The Collections

Penrose plans for moving out collections in anticipation of the renovation continue to progress as planned.  The first wave of materials moving in April went smoothly and movers will return in early June to begin the second and final phase of moving of books and other library collections.  Everything and everyone must be out of the Penrose Library building by July 12^th for construction to begin.

What’s notable about this process, and what is unprecedented as far as we know, is that Penrose is moving our collections without an interruption in access to materials!  Over the past few months, staff completed a full inventory, ensuring that each and every item in the collection has a barcode.  Now, as materials move, they can still be located and retrieved at any point in the moving process.

As our stacks maintenance manager, Andrew Miller, said recently, “This is unheard of, moving an entire library without ever limiting access to the materials.  Why are we doing it?  Because it’s the right thing to do.”

We feel strongly that maintaining access to important research and teaching materials for all campus members – many of whom will be taking classes, teaching, or doing research this summer during the peak of the moving period – is simply the right thing to do.  We are dedicated to providing top-quality service during this time and are literally working round-the-clock to do so.

To request items that have already moved to the Hampden Center, simply locate the item in the online catalog, click the Request It button in the item’s record and follow the steps.  The item will be retrieved for you, brought to Penrose within twenty-four hours, and you will receive an email letting you know that the item is ready for pick up.  More detailed instructions on using the Request it feature can be found here.

Requesting items online will be the only way to access physical library materials after around June 20^th, but by that point we will have ramped up to full capacity for deliveries so you can expect your items to be delivered to the Driscoll Ballroom, our temporary location, in two to four hours.

The Services

Just as we are dedicated to providing uninterrupted access to library materials during the renovation process, we are planning to continue library services without interruption as well.  There are many services located in the library and our plans include moving them to their temporary locations so that users can still access them throughout the process.

Timeline

As of this writing (5/17/11) we plan to move library services to their new locations beginning immediately after commencement June 4^th and to conclude by July 12^th.  We will post a timeline of these moves soon to the Academic Commons website FAQs and update campus through WebCentral emails.

We think you’ll agree that keeping library collections and services accessible throughout the renovation is “the right thing to do.”

The University began planning for the Academic Commons at Penrose Library project almost a decade ago.  Since that time, the community of DU students, faculty members, staff members, administrators, and architects has engaged in countless conversations about the needs and aspirations of the future library. The Provost is starting a new conversation with faculty through the deans to further define the right mix of library collections to be located in the new Academic Commons at Penrose Library.

After the construction is complete, which the University hopes will be in December 2012, the Hampden Center will continue to permanently house the bulk of the library collection. This will be many low-use materials, including most of the bound journal volumes, government publications, microforms and boxed archival collections, as well as little-used books.

The library will be working with the Provost’s new process of consulting with the faculty to identify those collections that should return to the on-campus library. These collections are likely to include the most frequently checked out and most recent books (less than 10 years old), as well as those actively used by faculty for teaching.

As the Provost noted, it will be important to base decisions on empirical evidence. About half of the books in Penrose Library have not been checked out in 13 years. Approximately 80% of the use of any academic library is based on 20% of its books. Other points of interest relate to faculty and student browsing. Browsing is a deeply personal, visual, and sometimes efficient discovery method. However, about half the records in Penrose’s online catalog point to digital content, so the reliability of browsing books on a shelf is changing. During the faculty input process, the library and the Provost will be interested in hearing about current browsing practices so that the on-campus collections can be shaped to support access.

For now, students and faculty can continue to browse the shelves at Penrose and if access is needed to materials that have already been moved to the Hampden Center, one can request them using the “Request It” button in the online catalog.  The materials will be sent to the library and an email message will be sent when items are ready for pick up.   Shuttles bring requested materials back and forth from the Hampden Center to DU and the turnaround process is no more than a few hours.

Once Penrose is under construction this summer, you will need to use the “Request It” button to request all items in the the  online catalog and pick up will be at the temporary library in Driscoll.

Beginning mid-July, while the library is under-going reconstruction, a temporary library will be set up in the Driscoll Ballroom. The temporary library will include study space as well as the Research Center, the Writing Center, and the Math Center. The UTS lab will be located in the Driscoll Gallery outside the ballroom. Additional study space will be available late nights in the Pub and the Driscoll Underground as well as in satellite locations across campus.

Library and other staff who work in the library building will be relocated as follows: most library, Writing Program, and CTL staff will go to Aspen Hall (currently called Aspen Apartments, map).  Some library staff (document delivery) will be in Nagel Hall for access to an elevator.  Some other document delivery staff will be housed in the Hampden Center to support access to stored collections. UTS Help Desk staff will open a temporary service point in the UTS building (at 2100 S. High Street, map). Quick Copy will permanently relocate to the Bookstore in Driscoll.

As many people on the DU campus know by now, the transportation of books and materials from Penrose Library to the Hampden Center began April 18.

The movement of materials is going quite smoothly. By the end of Wednesday last week, the movers had transported almost 20,000 linear feet of library material. The first part of the move focused on the least-used materials, including bound journal volumes and seldom-used books.

At one point, the movers were transferring 20,000 books per day to the Hampden Center. The Hampden Center is a 51,500-square-foot storage facility in southwest Denver, purchased by the University for both temporary and permanent library material storage.

The transportation process is now on slow-down until the end of finals in June. Movers continue to work, but the plan is to minimize disruption. After finals are completed, the book moving will start up again at full speed.