Several floors of the Sciences Library have been cleared of materials and renovated for other programmatic uses. This outline touches on some of the most salient points of the project.
What happened and why?
The University regularly reviews the use of its facilities and its anticipated space needs. In 2011, in conjunction with Shepley Bulfinch, a leading architectural firm, a space planning study was issued for the entire Brown campus. Among many other things, that study recommended possible re-uses for several floors of the SciLi. The rationale was based on several factors: the fundamental changes in science publishing brought about by the internet (nearly all science journals and many monographs, are electronic at this point); the low circulation of materials in the SciLi (less than 10 percent of the collection circulates in a given year); the central location of the building; and the very limited space available on College Hill for expansion.
After many discussions about which campus units might be relocated to the SciLi and which floors would be involved, senior University leadership designated levels 11–13 for new purposes in early 2014. The Library began making preparations for this work. We moved approximately 40,000 items off-site and had identified thousands of additional items for transfer to the Annex. Our shelving staff and student workers performed this work, guided by ROS librarians and other staff in access services and digital technologies. Even as this work moved forward, however, we were constrained by the nearly-full state of the original Annex module and needed the expanded module to be operational to take on all of the materials that would have to move off-site. The new Annex module was completed in mid-December 2014.
With the arrival of Brown’s new provost, Vicki Colvin, in summer 2014 came the decision to review plans for the SciLi. In late February 2015, the University determined that five levels of the SciLi (5–9) would be cleared and remodeled for new uses. After some further discussion, the Library was given until July 31 to clear these floors—allowing approximately 5 months to move nearly 250,000 items off-site. This was a very tight deadline, and much planning was required to, among other things, identify suitable materials to transfer, find and de-accession duplicates, make retention decisions about certain materials, consult with faculty, access project funding, purchase needed supplies, and perform a large number of other related tasks.
What happened to the floors? Who occupies them?
The repurposed floors in the SciLi are now occupied by the Writing Center (5th floor), the First Generation College and Low-Income Student Center (5th floor), Computing and Information Services (CIS) Instructional Technology staff (6th floor), the Center for Language Studies (6th floor), the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning (7th floor), the Humanity Centered Robotics Lab and a Computer Science lab (8th floor), a computer lab for social science research (BUSSEL), 9th floor, and the Rhode Island Innovative Policy Lab (10th floor).
What materials remain on-site and what has left?
Most of the materials that have left are low-use monographs (books at least 10 years old with very low or no circulation) and most serial volumes. A number of the journals have some, if not all, of their content available online.
The Mathematics faculty have requested that monograph materials in their discipline be exempt from these criteria, as older items are still important for mathematicians to conduct their research. We have honored that request. Some psychology faculty have also asked for certain journals to remain on-site and we will keep those in the stacks as well.
The map collection is not well-suited to off-site storage. It remains, though it has been moved to a higher floor (Level 11).
Newer and more frequently used monographs across all science disciplines also remain on-site.
Who did the work?
All of the preparatory work through February 2015 was done by Library staff. List creation, pull slips, pulling, transporting, and Annex accessioning were handled by various groups in access services, the mailroom staff, and staff in tech services and digital technologies.
In March 2015, we accelerated the pace of the project to meet our new deadline. Gentry Movers were hired to help transport materials to and from the Annex (the Library truck has much smaller capacity limits in size and weight). Temporary workers were hired to work at the Annex in order to keep pace with the work being done by Library shelving staff. Overtime was offered to Library staff to pull materials for transfer, and staff worked hundreds of hours of overtime on the project.
Beginning April 6, 2015, staff from W.B. Meyer began moving some items from the 5th floor off-site temporarily. The items were returned to Brown later in the project. Meyer staff were onsite, using level 5 as a staging and work space, until the end of July. They created item records for serial volumes to enable them to be accessioned into the Annex. Because we had to move so many items so quickly, we needed outside staffing to complete the work by our deadline. Ten Meyer staff worked with one of Meyer’s catalogers to barcode serial volumes and update our holdings. Meyer also moved the map collection to its new location and shifted the remaining collection up onto levels 11–13.
When did the SciLi reopen for patrons?
The Friedman Center remained open throughout the project, as did the Science Center. Our 14th floor offices also remained accessible. The collection floors (11–13) reopened the first week of September.
When will the newly renovated spaces open?
Construction has been completed.