tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/library-stack-19602/articlesLibrary stack – The Conversation2020-06-16T18:36:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1337412020-06-16T18:36:30Z2020-06-16T18:36:30ZAs libraries go digital, paper books still have a lot to offer us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339888/original/file-20200604-67347-1xxdktk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=361%2C52%2C2921%2C2276&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Despite an increasinly online-only world, libraries can still reveal the lives of the people who once owned the books within them.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Simon Weckert’s <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/artist-simon-weckert-google-map-hack-1769187"><em>Google Maps Hacks</em></a>, a performance art work, a man pulls a little red wagon filled with 99 cell phones through Berlin. Drawing on the nostalgia of the <a href="http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abu/y217/m01/abu0398/s05">Radio Flyer wagons</a> and globes of my childhood, the piece seeks to disrupt <a href="https://www.google.com/maps">Google Maps</a> and to make a point about aggregated data by causing a virtual traffic jam. I remember conveying stuffed animals and favourite books around the block in my toy wagon, and travelling to my parents’ birthplaces by tracing a finger across the globe to a non-existent Ukraine (then a part of the Soviet Union).</p>
<p>Technology like Google Maps has reshaped our lives, from how we navigate to how we keep informed and work. Librarians like me face challenges in maintaining traditional means of accessing and delivering information to our users while embracing innovative media.</p>
<p>We appreciate the value of both analogue (print books, manuscripts, maps, globes) and digital resources like Google Maps, databases and digital archives. One format captures the history of institutions in general, and of libraries, in particular. The other allows for more equitable and experimental access. Yet, being an advocate for print can be a thankless task.</p>
<p><a href="https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/the-primacy-of-print-is-past/">Students and their professors rely increasingly on libraries’ e-resources</a>. As libraries closed during the pandemic, they were replaced with digital spaces. Yet, what is lost when entire libraries go online?</p>
<h2>Technology vs. temporal experience</h2>
<p>The value of print has been challenged before by technological innovations. At the turn of the twentieth century <a href="https://archive.org/details/libraryjournal29ameruoft/page/8/mode/2up/search/Biagi">graphophone discs were predicted to replace written novels and plays for the spoken word</a>. By mid-century, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0961000605052162">microcards were to revolutionize publishing and copyright</a>; microfilm would allow for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4304071">the large-scale reproduction of originals of materials</a>. In the 21st century, <a href="https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2017/08/21/less-meets-eye-print-book-use-falling-faster-research-libraries/">low-circulating print books</a> and high-demand ebooks are used as reasons to acquire ever more digital content. </p>
<p>What libraries rarely consider, though, is the extrinsic (artifactual) worth of their circulating holdings rather than their intrinsic (informational) value. Also, lost in the debate is the value of time: the time taken to browse shelves, to select a book and to read it and see traces of its use.</p>
<p>While exploring <a href="https://utarms.library.utoronto.ca">the history of the university’s library collection in our archives</a>, I consulted dozens of old accession catalogues. These catalogues allow researchers to trace the library’s growth daily and yearly. Important information can be gleaned about titles in the collection, such as their bibliographical elements and provenance history.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340185/original/file-20200605-176542-q47cj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340185/original/file-20200605-176542-q47cj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340185/original/file-20200605-176542-q47cj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340185/original/file-20200605-176542-q47cj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340185/original/file-20200605-176542-q47cj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340185/original/file-20200605-176542-q47cj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340185/original/file-20200605-176542-q47cj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A University of Toronto Library accession ledger shows who has had their hands on a hard copy of a book, giving a sense of the book’s history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ksenya Kiebuzinski)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>One can discover details about the library’s history such as, books gifted by Queen Victoria, Frederick I (Grand Duke of Baden), the Meteorological Office in London, Trinity College in Cambridge or, more locally, the British historian Goldwin Smith of <a href="https://ago.ca/about/the-grange">The Grange</a> (today part of the Art Gallery of Ontario). This information cannot be discovered online. It requires meticulous research of half a million handwritten entries across a span of 50 years.</p>
<h2>Social history of books</h2>
<p>Where books come from is fascinating to researchers. Personal libraries provide insights into collectors’ lives, as do individual volumes donated to our institutions. These books often include physical traces associated with the original owners, such as signatures, dedications and book plates. We may see marginalia or doodles, newspaper clippings, photographs or flowers pressed inside as bookmarks. These discoveries help us map the social history of a particular volume. Unlike pristine new digital editions, older or donated books show signs of use that go beyond a circulation statistic.</p>
<p>Our university library, for example, holds a book on 19th-century Russian drama with the following note pasted in: “Bring a bottle of bubbly, sweetie, and have some fun. (Saffy’s doing a science project at the poly-wollege and won’t be there!)”</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340184/original/file-20200605-176546-1uqoxe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340184/original/file-20200605-176546-1uqoxe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340184/original/file-20200605-176546-1uqoxe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340184/original/file-20200605-176546-1uqoxe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340184/original/file-20200605-176546-1uqoxe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340184/original/file-20200605-176546-1uqoxe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340184/original/file-20200605-176546-1uqoxe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A note inside a book on Russian theatre held at Robarts Library tells a story of not only the book but the life of one of its handlers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ksenya Kiebuzinski)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Other library books reveal ownership. The University of Toronto Library has <a href="https://archive.org/details/podrozgo00berl/page/n5/mode/2up">a memoir</a> of a Russian revolutionary (bound with several pamphlets by Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky) bearing the ink stamps of the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party in Quincy, Mass. These sample traces — a playful note inserted inside a book or an old ownership stamp —lead us to wonder what fun was had while Saffy was away, or curious about the history of Russians in Massachusetts and how the book got from Quincy to Toronto.</p>
<p>Such notes and stamps may be documented as notes in print or online catalogue records for rare books (not always), but rarely do traces of ownership — beyond an occasional autograph — get recorded for circulating material. While many libraries might own the same edition of a title, each copy may reveal something different about its former owners or readers. </p>
<h2>Preserving library histories</h2>
<p>In 2019, <a href="https://news.virginia.edu/content/old-card-catalog-collaborative-effort-will-preserve-its-history">two graduate students of literature at the University of Virginia</a> (UVA) worked frenetically to save their library’s card catalogue, slated to be discarded during a renovation. They discovered index cards that contained notes about physical volumes not reflected in the online catalogue. The catalogue also documents changes in publishing and reading preferences over time. It reveals how UVA’s collection was rebuilt following a fire in 1895 that largely destroyed it, and what volumes were held in the university’s founding years prior to the blaze.</p>
<p>Similarly, the University of Toronto library lost most of its collection following <a href="https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/local-history-genealogy/2017/02/remembering-the-1890-fire-at-the-university-of-toronto-february-14-snapshots-in-history.html">the great fire of 1890</a>. While our card catalogue has been discarded, we have retained an original shelf list (a set of catalogue cards for books ordered by call number) for material acquired from 1890 until 1959. This will allow researchers to study seventy years of our library’s history. </p>
<p>How many stories and discoveries are yet to be related thumbing through these cards and browsing our book shelves? <a href="https://dlis.hypotheses.org/788">The Semantic Web and linked-data initiatives</a> will surface library collections across the world, but machines cannot discover what is hidden in our card catalogues or lost forever when print copies are discarded or no longer collected.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ksenya Kiebuzinski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What stories will we tell about library collections in the future? As digitization takes over libraries, margin notes and scribbles are still part of the research process.Ksenya Kiebuzinski, Slavic Resources Coordinator, and Head, Petro Jacyk Resource Centre, University of Toronto Libraries, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/906382018-01-25T19:12:33Z2018-01-25T19:12:33ZEssays On Air: Why libraries can and must change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203204/original/file-20180124-72597-ot1ryv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The much heralded 'death of the book' has nothing to do with the death of reading or writing. It is about a radical transformation in reading practices.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marcella Cheng/NY-CC-BD</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the age of the globalisation of everything – and the privatisation of everything else - libraries can and must change. In fact, it’s already underway, as new technologies take books and libraries to places that are, as yet, unimaginable. </p>
<p>That’s what we’re unpacking today on Essays On Air, where we bring you fascinating long form essays in audio form.</p>
<p>Today, Camilla Nelson, Associate Professor of Writing at the University of Notre Dame, reads her essay, titled <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-libraries-can-and-must-change-83496">Why libraries can and must change</a>.</p>
<p>Nelson takes us from the ancient Library of Alexandria to the New York Public Library and explores the problems that arise when books are excluded, destroyed, censored and forgotten. And, indeed, when libraries are decimated.</p>
<p>Join us as we read to you here at Essays On Air, a podcast from The Conversation.</p>
<p>Find us and subscribe in <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/essays-on-air/id1333743838?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a>, in <a href="https://play.pocketcasts.com/">Pocket Casts</a> or wherever you get your podcasts.</p>
<h2>Additional audio</h2>
<p>Snow by <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/David_Szesztay/Cinematic/Snow">David Szesztay</a></p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/daveincamas/sounds/44076/">Big chain</a> by daveincamas</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/jcgd2/sounds/131259/">Traffic noise</a> in the street by jcgd2</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/Kyodon/sounds/153423/">Automatic door</a> by Kyodon</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/jakobthiesen/sounds/188420/">Kids Birthday Party Crowd</a> by jakobthiesen</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/raremess/sounds/222558/">Cardboard burning</a> by Rare Mess Recordings</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/Quistard/sounds/231939/">Plunger-pop </a>by Quistard</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/mariiao2/sounds/232803/">environment 1st floor</a> by mariiao2</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/Duophonic/sounds/248272/">Moderate waves on the edge of a river</a> by Duophonic</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/deleted_user_3667256/sounds/320328/">breaking objects</a> by deleted_user_3667256</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/339673/">Vacuum cleaner</a>, by InspectorJ</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/nathanaellentz/sounds/342156/">Morning docks</a> by nathanaellentz</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/ScreamStudio/sounds/392616/">Tearing paper</a> by ScreamStudio</p>
<p><a href="https://freesound.org/people/AryaNotStark/sounds/407632/">Shhh Sounds by AryaNotStark</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwF_LnTqLUM">Best Bernard Black Moments, Black Books by Channel 4</a></p>
<p><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/MAT64/The_Midnight_Eclipse_vol1/11_Ye_Olde_Green_Inn">Ye Olde Green Inn by MAT64</a></p>
<p><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Freeharmonic_Orchestra/Space_Robots_the_Future/11_-_RoboHobo">Robo Hobo by The Freeharmonic Orchestra</a></p>
<p><em>This episode was edited by Jenni Henderson. Illustration by Marcella Cheng.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The much heralded 'death of the book' has nothing to do with the death of reading or writing. It's about a radical transformation in reading practices, as explained in this episode of Essays On Air.Sunanda Creagh, Senior EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/765132017-04-27T20:05:46Z2017-04-27T20:05:46ZUnstacked: revealing the hidden gems of the State Library of NSW<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166763/original/file-20170426-13380-1k300pl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Unstacked allows us to see what others' are searching for among the 6 million items in the State Library of NSW's collection.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked/the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What are people looking for when they browse the State Library of NSW’s collection of six million items?</p>
<p>There are books in there, of course, but also photographs, soldiers diaries from World War One, locks of childrens’ hair, a vast array of paintings and sketches, maps, diaries from First Fleet officers and soldiers, Aboriginal artefacts and even floppy disks from the 1980s.</p>
<p>As winners of the inaugural <a href="http://dxlab.sl.nsw.gov.au/fellowship-winner/">DX Lab Fellowship</a> at the State Library of NSW, we wanted to reveal the breadth and diversity of this collection (most of which is held in the library’s underground stacks), and show what odd and interesting items pop up when people search the collection online.</p>
<p>The result is <a href="http://unstacked.dxlab.sl.nsw.gov.au">Unstacked</a>, launched this week by the library’s <a href="http://dxlab.sl.nsw.gov.au/">DX Lab</a>, Australia’s first cultural-heritage innovation lab. DX Lab aims to build and support new ways of design thinking, experimentation and research with digital technologies. </p>
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<p>So what is Unstacked? It is a webpage that updates to show what items people are accessing from the State Library of NSW’s collection. When people look at a collection item, it pops up on Unstacked. It is essentially a window into the collection, and an insight into what people are interested in at any given time.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166741/original/file-20170426-13401-1h82x5d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166741/original/file-20170426-13401-1h82x5d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166741/original/file-20170426-13401-1h82x5d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166741/original/file-20170426-13401-1h82x5d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166741/original/file-20170426-13401-1h82x5d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166741/original/file-20170426-13401-1h82x5d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166741/original/file-20170426-13401-1h82x5d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166741/original/file-20170426-13401-1h82x5d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unstacked allows you to see what other people are searching for.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked, the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166747/original/file-20170426-13401-1e20ao2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166747/original/file-20170426-13401-1e20ao2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166747/original/file-20170426-13401-1e20ao2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166747/original/file-20170426-13401-1e20ao2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166747/original/file-20170426-13401-1e20ao2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166747/original/file-20170426-13401-1e20ao2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166747/original/file-20170426-13401-1e20ao2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166747/original/file-20170426-13401-1e20ao2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Showing what people search for offers a window into the interests of library users.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked, the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Unstacked because it presents in a visual form items which are physically or digitally coming delivered from “the stacks”; the underground space where the library stores holds much of their collection.</p>
<p>You can view Unstacked on your computer, mobile phone or device. The plan is to display this project over a large space in the library for everyone to see. We’ve found that when it is shown in a public space, it provokes conversation and this was one of our aims.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166736/original/file-20170426-13383-18cvkd1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166736/original/file-20170426-13383-18cvkd1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166736/original/file-20170426-13383-18cvkd1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166736/original/file-20170426-13383-18cvkd1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166736/original/file-20170426-13383-18cvkd1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166736/original/file-20170426-13383-18cvkd1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166736/original/file-20170426-13383-18cvkd1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166736/original/file-20170426-13383-18cvkd1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most of the State Library of NSW collection of books, photographs, maps and artefacts is held in the underground stacks storage. Unstacked brings it out into the open.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166738/original/file-20170426-13425-frfc6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166738/original/file-20170426-13425-frfc6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166738/original/file-20170426-13425-frfc6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166738/original/file-20170426-13425-frfc6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166738/original/file-20170426-13425-frfc6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166738/original/file-20170426-13425-frfc6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166738/original/file-20170426-13425-frfc6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166738/original/file-20170426-13425-frfc6o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">War era documents, like posters, letters and diaries are among the items in the library’s collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked, State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166754/original/file-20170426-13395-1eeewbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166754/original/file-20170426-13395-1eeewbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166754/original/file-20170426-13395-1eeewbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166754/original/file-20170426-13395-1eeewbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166754/original/file-20170426-13395-1eeewbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166754/original/file-20170426-13395-1eeewbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166754/original/file-20170426-13395-1eeewbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166754/original/file-20170426-13395-1eeewbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Clicking on items, like old photographs, allows users to see more details.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked, the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What are people searching for?</h2>
<p>The work reveals that the library’s users have very different interests and this highlights the diversity of the collection. </p>
<p>People use the library for all types of research. On any given day you might see searches ranging from Shakespeare, the psychology of teenagers or HSC papers to subdivision plans, kisses, houses in Lilyfield in the 1970s, or mosquito management. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166748/original/file-20170426-13414-1apvmy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166748/original/file-20170426-13414-1apvmy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166748/original/file-20170426-13414-1apvmy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166748/original/file-20170426-13414-1apvmy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166748/original/file-20170426-13414-1apvmy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166748/original/file-20170426-13414-1apvmy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166748/original/file-20170426-13414-1apvmy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166748/original/file-20170426-13414-1apvmy1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You might find bird drawings next to articles about robotics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked, the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, if you were looking at Unstacked when someone accessed a photograph of colonial houses from the collection, then you would see that photograph appear. </p>
<p>If you were interested in finding out more about this photograph then you could enlarge it and see more details. You could then click on the link to its record in the library’s online catalogue. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166740/original/file-20170426-13383-3upvaw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166740/original/file-20170426-13383-3upvaw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166740/original/file-20170426-13383-3upvaw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166740/original/file-20170426-13383-3upvaw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166740/original/file-20170426-13383-3upvaw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166740/original/file-20170426-13383-3upvaw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166740/original/file-20170426-13383-3upvaw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166740/original/file-20170426-13383-3upvaw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are many botanical detail drawings in the collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked, the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You may well see this photograph displayed alongside a book on The History of the Bean Bag, war diaries or Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. It depends on what other people are looking at, at that moment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166750/original/file-20170426-13401-r70dcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166750/original/file-20170426-13401-r70dcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166750/original/file-20170426-13401-r70dcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166750/original/file-20170426-13401-r70dcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166750/original/file-20170426-13401-r70dcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166750/original/file-20170426-13401-r70dcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166750/original/file-20170426-13401-r70dcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166750/original/file-20170426-13401-r70dcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What you see on Unstacked depends on what people are searching for at that moment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked, the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And because people access the collection chiefly through the library’s web-based catalogue, the search queries displaying on Unstacked could be coming from anywhere - in the library, in regional NSW or on the other side of the world.</p>
<h2>Visualising the searches</h2>
<p>In respect to design, we wanted to showcase items with minimal fuss and let the contents of the collection speak for themselves. We thought a lot about how much information to show and when to show it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166752/original/file-20170426-13422-5rxg6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166752/original/file-20170426-13422-5rxg6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166752/original/file-20170426-13422-5rxg6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166752/original/file-20170426-13422-5rxg6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166752/original/file-20170426-13422-5rxg6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166752/original/file-20170426-13422-5rxg6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166752/original/file-20170426-13422-5rxg6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166752/original/file-20170426-13422-5rxg6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are a great many paintings in the library’s collection, each with its own story.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked, the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166756/original/file-20170426-13401-ffh3dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166756/original/file-20170426-13401-ffh3dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166756/original/file-20170426-13401-ffh3dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166756/original/file-20170426-13401-ffh3dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166756/original/file-20170426-13401-ffh3dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166756/original/file-20170426-13401-ffh3dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166756/original/file-20170426-13401-ffh3dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166756/original/file-20170426-13401-ffh3dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sarah Cobcroft (1772–1857), who arrived free in New South Wales in 1790, looking sternly at Judy Blume’s Forever, a sometimes controversial novel about adolescence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked/the State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In consultation with the library, we settled on a visualisation that balances communication and aesthetics. In other words, it looks good but is still easy for anyone to understand what they’re looking at. One of the challenges we encountered was how to deal with items from the collection that don’t have images attached to their records. </p>
<p>For published items including books, we used a palette of colours created by <a href="http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/about-us/artist-residence-program/shelf-life-exhibition">Chris Gaul for the UTS Library</a>, which represent the different Dewey Decimal topics. For example, blue represents social sciences and orange represents geography and history.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166735/original/file-20170426-13386-eq6jy9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166735/original/file-20170426-13386-eq6jy9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166735/original/file-20170426-13386-eq6jy9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166735/original/file-20170426-13386-eq6jy9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166735/original/file-20170426-13386-eq6jy9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166735/original/file-20170426-13386-eq6jy9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166735/original/file-20170426-13386-eq6jy9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166735/original/file-20170426-13386-eq6jy9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This image shows all the results for a day in March 2016, which was the busiest day out of the dataset we used.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unstacked</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We’ve had responses like “I had no idea the State Library of NSW had things like that” and “I’m going to look that up too”. People have been surprised by just how interesting and diverse the State Library’s collection is. They’re also amazed that anyone undertaking research can go into the library and look at the originals whether they be rare books, photographs or drawings.</p>
<p>We hope that Unstacked will increase the number of visits to the library both virtual and physical and inspire people to explore the State Library of NSW’s incredible collection.</p>
<p><em>Unstacked builds upon Elisa and Adam’s investigations as <a href="http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/news/288004/uts-library-s-artists-residence-investigate-library-retrieval-system">Artists-in-Residence at the UTS Library</a> in 2014. This article was co-authored by <a href="http://www.adamhinshaw.com/">Adam Hinshaw</a>, a creative technologist specialising in interactive installation and a co-creator of Unstacked.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisa Lee is a DX Lab fellow and this work was funded by State Library of NSW Foundation.</span></em></p>A new website allows you to see what other people search for in the State Library of NSW’s vast collection of artefacts – and discover things you’d never think to look up in the first place.Elisa Lee, Lecturer and tutor in Visual Communications, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/458082015-08-19T10:06:21Z2015-08-19T10:06:21ZTurning a page: downsizing the campus book collections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92164/original/image-20150817-5098-16kh4ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Should campus libraries spend on keeping millions of books on-site?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/8506204485/in/photolist-dXEwf2-duLo1w-cvsynA-jB3xB3-jB1uy4-769eno-7gRxJk-jB3jum-duLofN-dwdaXt-9E4sN5-pK47Ro-6xx6jB-cQkwjS-dyQ2TQ-5rjKZM-8pAyMv-6JV11S-8xt3qr-6xBfm7-3P1bPY-5fqmLm-8xzhgv-8Kmo6t-4Ppiia-8xcb5Y-8x7qVe-3gG5sD-qaCeeV-qs3ew2-sHeRxs-gmoy6q-oCPtqt-rWQozP-rWQor2-aaLi2U-2QHV98-7tp8mW-3XvgqQ-63jVv-63JSR7-fu1suP-dwzkYM-dBTQz1-dBTQe1-dwzkt4-8xvNPX-5TPzxe-dBNpTk-dBTPPU">Penn State</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When, in 2005, the University of Chicago entered into a US$81 million renovation of a major library building, one of the primary goals was to <a href="https://chronicle.com/article/A-High-Tech-Library-Keeps/128370/">ensure</a> that the university’s collection of printed books in the social sciences and humanities would remain under one roof.</p>
<p>That goal was achieved six years later. However, it also meant that a good part of the library’s print collection, while technically being “under the library roof,” was moved “under the ground.” The renovation included a subterranean automated system that can store and retrieve up to 3.5 million books. </p>
<p>Chicago’s library project could well represent the end of an era – the era of colleges and universities expending millions of dollars so that printed books can be housed in on-campus libraries.</p>
<p>In my 25-year career as an academic librarian, I have witnessed the explosion of digital technology into academic life and played a part in the ongoing struggle to balance digital information with the familiar solidity of print in academic library collections. </p>
<p>While I believe there will always be a place for the book in the hearts of academics, it is far less likely there will be a place for the book, or at least for every book, on the academic campus. </p>
<h2>Changing goals of costly shelf space</h2>
<p>Keeping a printed book in a library is not cheap. </p>
<p>The most <a href="http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub147/reports/pub147/pub147.pdf">recent analysis</a> pegs the total cost of keeping one book in an open library stack (the kind that allows browsing) at $4.26 per year (in 2009 dollars). <a href="http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub147/reports/pub147/pub147.pdf">High-density shelving</a>, a less costly alternative to open stacks, comes at $.86 per book, per year (again, in 2009 dollars).</p>
<p>And given the costs, academic financial officers blanch at proposals to build new on-campus storage capacity for thousands, in some cases millions, of books.</p>
<p>This is not to say that academic library construction and renovation have come to an end. But rather than being conceived of as on-campus book warehouses, academic libraries are today being reimagined as spaces in which learning, collaboration and intellectual engagement take center stage. </p>
<p>Look at the following examples:</p>
<p>At Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the <a href="http://www.library.vcu.edu/newlibrary/">web page</a> providing information on the construction of a new library building for the Monroe Park campus proclaims:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>90% of the new space will be for student use, not for storing books or materials.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is in the midst of an addition and renovation project that will add 60,000 square feet of new library space and renovate 92,000 square feet of existing library space.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.library.ucsb.edu/building">stated goals</a> of the UCSB project include such desiderata as “expanded wireless access,” “additional and enhanced group study and collaboration spaces,” and a “faculty collaboration studio.” Additional book capacity is not part of the plan.</p>
<p>Even more extreme, the University of Michigan’s $55 million <a href="https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2015/08/06/is-this-schools-bookless-library-the-future-of-academic-libraries?elq_cid=1740969&x_id=003C000001ocYQEIA2">renovation</a> of its Taubman Health Sciences Library (completed in 2015) has removed all print books from the library in order to accommodate classrooms and “collaboration rooms.”</p>
<p>An entire floor is now <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/08/university_of_michigan_unveils_2.html">devoted</a> to “clinical simulation rooms” where medical students hone their diagnostic and clinical skills through simulated hands-on practice. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92166/original/image-20150817-5127-1iump1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92166/original/image-20150817-5127-1iump1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92166/original/image-20150817-5127-1iump1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92166/original/image-20150817-5127-1iump1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92166/original/image-20150817-5127-1iump1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92166/original/image-20150817-5127-1iump1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92166/original/image-20150817-5127-1iump1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Library space is today being reimagined for learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seamkkirjasto/15892948727/in/photolist-qdpvXn-5uo6sp-a3J8gG-6masys-nRtmXg-nyKXoK-v55n3X-6m6iEr-6AUWBw-6AQLJ6-6AQMJV-7utwti-8ZTbgz-q86U9R-4DADbC-8xksL3-3geZJ4-6pyZ4p-qgt61R-dyxvcx-7aQ9Lc-7dEB8p-7aQ9Q4-7uxpes-dyxuQg-5xgqiX-7dEAwZ-a5CvaG-dXEwf2-duLo1w-cvsynA-jB3xB3-jB1uy4-769eno-7gRxJk-jB3jum-duLofN-dwdaXt-9E4sN5-pK47Ro-6xx6jB-cQkwjS-dyQ2TQ-5rjKZM-8pAyMv-6JV11S-8xt3qr-6xBfm7-3P1bPY-5fqmLm">SeAMK Korkeakoulukirjasto</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All these are part of a mainstream trend in which the printed book, though still part of the academic library ensemble, is being relegated to the role of supporting player rather than the lead actor.</p>
<h2>New ways of storage</h2>
<p>In the face of these changes, academic librarians have no choice but to take action. Their challenge, though, is that there are simply too many print books and not enough on-campus space to store them.</p>
<p>The most obvious solution to too many books is “weeding,” the library profession’s term for removing books from a collection. While weeding creates space for new books, it has significant labor and disposal costs. Also, it can meet with stiff resistance from faculty and students.</p>
<p>So an increasingly popular strategy for managing overcrowded stacks is moving books to high-density, low-cost, off-campus storage. </p>
<p>This too can be met with <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/05/college_libraries_should_keep_their_books_in_the_stacks.html">resistance</a> from faculty and students. For example, at Syracuse University, faculty reacted with with what was described as “fury” when campus librarians planned to move low-use books to an off-campus storage facility.</p>
<p>Even so, the practice has become routine for many academic libraries. As of 2014, an <a href="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2014/09/23/winning-the-space-race">estimated</a> 75 high-density academic library storage facilities have been built in the US. </p>
<p>Often located where land is cheaper and more plentiful than on crowded college campuses, climate-controlled high-density storage facilities house books and other library materials in space-saving compact shelving. While the items in such facilities are not browseable, their bibliographic records remain in the library catalog and the items themselves can be recalled if needed by a library user. </p>
<p>This number includes facilities that serve a single library. But it also includes several shared mega-facilities, such as:</p>
<p>The Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP) – a [partnership](http://recap.princeton.edu](http://recap.princeton.edu ) of Columbia University, The New York Public Library, and Princeton University – houses more than 12 million volumes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92165/original/image-20150817-5083-1x34qnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92165/original/image-20150817-5083-1x34qnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92165/original/image-20150817-5083-1x34qnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92165/original/image-20150817-5083-1x34qnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92165/original/image-20150817-5083-1x34qnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92165/original/image-20150817-5083-1x34qnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92165/original/image-20150817-5083-1x34qnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Library shelf space is, after all, finite.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/4946563247/in/photolist-8x7qVe-3gG5sD-qaCeeV-qs3ew2-sHeRxs-gmoy6q-oCPtqt-rWQozP-rWQor2-aaLi2U-2QHV98-7tp8mW-3XvgqQ-63jVv-63JSR7-fu1suP-dwzkYM-dBTQz1-dBTQe1-dwzkt4-8xvNPX-5TPzxe-dBNpTk-dBTPPU-gAVSr-igTjs-bSsjpt-7s9R1-u8yeX-cEaQku-cEaQ3u-cEaPAY-cEaRBq-cEaQBj-dBTQWf-dBNrst-c1gDB5-DmdQK-nAcaFE-2p6Wc-6pFHEh-f2qoia-cEaStY-cEaRL9-cEaSqw-cEaShj-cEaRSN-cEaS85-cEaRWo-cEaS4C">Penn State</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Minnesota Library Access Center – serving the University of Minnesota along with a consortium of smaller libraries around the state – has a <a href="https://www.minitex.umn.edu/Storage/About/">capacity</a> of 1.5 million volumes.</p>
<p>The University of Texas and Texas A&M shared repository, which opened in 2013, has a <a href="https://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/texas-am%E2%80%93university-texas-joint-library-facility-proving-broadly-successful">capacity</a> for over one million volumes and is designed to be expandable to a two-million-volume facility.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ohiolink.edu/depositories">statewide Ohiolink system</a> includes five regional repositories whose shared capacity approaches 10 million volumes.</p>
<p>The combined University of California Northern and Southern Regional Library Facilities have the <a href="http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/NRLF/about.html">capacity</a> to house a combined 13 million volumes.</p>
<p>But because of the high costs involved, books are also being weeded out as they are moved. </p>
<p>Rather than keeping five copies of Book X, each deposited by a separate library, a shared storage facility may keep only a single “best copy” to be shared by all the contributing libraries. </p>
<p>Things have gone so far that Texas’ high-density repository is home to books that are the shared property of both the University of Texas and Texas A&M, a rather astounding state of affairs for anyone familiar with the length and depth of the <a href="http://news.utexas.edu/2010/09/28/library_storage_facility">rivalry</a> between the <a href="http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/farmers-flight/">two institutions</a>. </p>
<h2>Future of campus libraries</h2>
<p>Besides building shared repositories, academic libraries are also developing distributed storage projects as a way of reducing the pressure on library stack space. </p>
<p>Rather than relying on large repositories, distributed storage schemes are based on multilibrary agreements. A member library agrees to hold an archival print copy of a bound journal or monograph so that other members of the consortia can dispose of their copies. </p>
<p>Academic librarians have formed a task force to investigate the creation of a distributed shared monograph archive on behalf of <a href="https://www.hathitrust.org/print_monographs_archive_charge">HathiTrust</a>, a shared digital preservation repository containing the scans of millions of printed books belonging to a coalition of academic libraries. </p>
<p>The proposed HathiTrust monograph archive will allow those same academic libraries to reduce the footprint of their on-campus collections by relying on shared archival copies of low-use, mostly public domain books whose full texts are available digitally via HathiTrust. </p>
<p>While there is certain to be resistance to any future plans to move books out of campus book stacks, the inescapable calculus of more print books and less on-campus space to house them will, in the end, overwhelm resistance. </p>
<p>Academic library consultant Lizanne Payne accurately <a href="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2014/09/23/winning-the-space-race">sums up</a> the current situation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>On most campuses, library shelf space is finite and even shrinking. Gone are the days when a proactive library director could argue successfully for a library expansion to house more books.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Traditionalists may not like it, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that, in the long term, campuses will not require ever more space to house printed books.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald A. Barclay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Keeping a printed book in a campus library comes with steep costs. How are campus libraries evolving?Donald A. Barclay, Deputy University Librarian, University of California, MercedLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.