A radical and radiant move By Douglas Storm, ACS Senior Account Manager and LiveWire Editor-at-Large
“When you consider the radiance, that it does not withhold
itself but pours its abundance without selection into every
nook and cranny not overhung or hidden …” A. R. Ammons, The City Limits
Tina Chrzastowski looks fondly at the old library tables in the new chemistry library at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (View more construction pictures
and floor plans of the UIUC chemistry library online.)
After 90 years on the second floor of the “new” (1916) Noyes Chemistry Building, the chemistry library at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has moved. Its new digs are one floor below and a little to the north
of its former home, and its “L” configuration straddles the “old” (1902) and new Noyes buildings.
Chemistry librarian Tina Chrzastowski told me about the old library, the move, and the new library as we toured the old
and the new spaces together
The old library had been crammed full of floor-to-ceiling shelving, much of it cast iron, and had little to no natural light.
It was in lock step with the lab: nose down in the research. (In fact, it was wedged in among the laboratories.)
The new library’s corner location is airy, with high ceilings. Natural light streams through windows that offer views
of trees (and a deli cart!) outside, but the nearest buildings block potentially damaging direct sunlight. Along the walls,
under these abundant windows, are stations for patrons to sit and read journals or work on their laptops.
The cast-iron shelves that once held the heft of chemistry information as it had been recorded over the years are gone,
salvaged by the local preservation association (evidently, they were quite valuable). The information once tangible
only as books and journals now exists primarily in a form that’s as light as ether and requires no shelving at
all. Electronic formats are largely responsible for allowing the new library to sport its radiant new look.
Besides the work areas and stacks for print materials, the library features quiet rooms (which the students call
“loud rooms” because their gatherings in there tend not to stay quiet for long) and a large conference
room that will double as a teaching space for Tina, who glows a bit brighter herself when waxing eloquently upon
the move and design of the new library.
Over lunch, Tina described the overarching design philosophy for the new library and her experience in making it a reality.
Well, we started discussing it in the late 1990s. Lab space was at a premium in this building, and they decided to
revamp the undergraduate labs. Where the library was turned out to be the best spot for the new labs, so we started
planning the move. Communication among all parties—chemistry professors, library, and department
administrators—was very good along the way, and we all have gotten what we really wanted on all fronts.
The prospect of the move precipitated discussions about remote storage and space for physical materials, which actually
brings up an interesting paradox. Before, when we were running out of physical space, we would reduce the human space in
the library to fit in more materials—you know, take out a chair and put in a shelving unit. By increasing our
collections of and access to electronic information, however, storage capacity—once finite, limited by four
walls—is no longer an ongoing battle to figure out where to shelve new volumes. Instead, we can think about the
users and create a place that will be conducive to their study and research. Even though the square footage is the
same as before, the new library is amazingly spacious.
As a nod to the work of chemistry, I wanted the library to have the feel of a laboratory. The tables mimic lab
benches but feature state-of-the-art access points for data, not Bunsen burners. In fact, the whole library is
wired—patrons can access the network with a wireless card or a plug-in data jack, or simply use one of our
connected terminals.
We’ve reduced our on-site volumes significantly, from about 70,000 to 24,000. Two developments made
this reduction possible: electronic journal backfiles
and a library storage facility. I started buying up backfiles as soon as they became available. The projected move and
the attitudes of all involved parties, including the chemists, really made it a necessity—a welcome one to my mind.
The way that I see it, a focus on users and the space that they will occupy includes virtual materials. Now that so much
information is available online, we work to find better and faster ways to get that material into our users’ hands.
Library usage statistics helped us get buy-in from all parties, because we could quantify online usage. Management
data also pointed to what we were observing: declines in in-person patrons, reference questions, photocopying, and
reshelving. The statistical trends over time indicate that people are behaving just as we had hoped they would.
They are using more library materials more efficiently, 24/7, and they are doing it not in the physical library
but in virtual library space.
The real test of this library designed with its users in mind will be on August 23, 2006, when the fall semester begins
at UIUC. We’ll know very quickly whether we’ve done it right. And we’ll continue to monitor all use,
collections, and services to be sure that we continue to meet the needs of this very active group of researchers.
The new UIUC Chemistry Library (not named yet—any philanthropists reading?) has been designed to highlight information
access. Even though the technology behind this access is purposefully hidden and the tremendous energy and resources that
provide it often go unnoticed by users, the radiance of historical chemical research will be available to patrons at the
speed of light (or at least the speed of broadband).
Have any of you readers successfully created a modern science library to replace the bulky old one chained to cast-iron
shelves? If so, we’d like to hear your story! Contact Doug Storm.
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