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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN LIBRARY

OAK STREET LIBRARY FACILITY
809 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

On October 29, 2004, the Library's new high-density shelving facility, officially named the Oak Street Library Facility, opened. The first module of the building will house two million volumes and greatly ease crowded conditions in the Main Library bookstacks and in many of our departmental libraries. By the end of 2005, approximately 800,000 volumes will have been relocated from the Main Bookstacks and some departmental libraries to the new facility. Additional modules will be built over the next ten years, providing space for up to 7 million volumes. The facility primarily houses low-use materials. With its state-of-the-art climate control system, the Oak Street facility is a major component in the Library's efforts to preserve its rich print collections. We hope that the following information will answer many of your questions about this facility. If not, please feel free to contact Betsy Kruger at betsyk@uiuc.edu or Bob Burger at rburger@uiuc.edu.

What is the Oak Street Library Facility and where is it located?

The Oak Street Library Facility (OSLF) houses mostly lower use materials from the UIUC Library’s collections in high-density shelving. "High-density" describes the particular type of shelving and shelving arrangement utilized to accommodate considerably more material than could possibly be housed on regular library shelving or even in moveable, compact shelving. Rather than being shelved in call number order, materials of like size are placed in trays that are shelved on 40-foot high racks of industrial shelving. An item’s location on the shelves is tracked through a special inventory program that utilizes barcode technology and interfaces with the Library’s online catalog. The OSLF is located at 809 S. Oak Street near the intersection of Oak and Daniel Streets. This location is approximately 8 blocks from the Main Library.

Why was this facility necessary?

The University Library recently acquired its 10 millionth book. The Library's main bookstacks are severely overcrowded, as evidenced by the large quantity of material that can be seen stacked on the floors throughout the bookstacks. Many of our departmental libraries are also overcrowded. Building an addition to the existing bookstacks would not only have been prohibitively expensive, but would also have provided only limited growth space for our collections. The OSLF was not only less costly to build, but its modular design will allow us to expand the building every few years. Like the first module, subsequent modules will each have a capacity of approximately 2 million volumes. Total eventual capacity of the building will be approximately eight million volumes.

Have other research libraries built similar facilities?

Yes. Among them are Harvard, Duke, Cornell, Columbia, Michigan, Indiana, Stanford, and Yale. While the Harvard Depository is now about 20-years old, most other facilities have been built within the last 5-8 years.

What kinds of materials are shelved there and how are they selected?

Materials are selected based on criteria developed by subject bibliographers in the Library, often in consultation with teaching faculty. While criteria may vary somewhat by discipline, the most common criteria are low use (based on last date of circulation), the availability of electronic equivalents (e.g., the print versions of some JSTOR journals), and the existence of duplicate copies elsewhere on campus. Often a combination of criteria is used. Materials in the bookstacks that have been designated for eventual transfer to the Oak Street facility are flagged with orange streamers. Faculty members are welcome to request that specific materials be kept in the bookstacks.

How do users know if an item is shelved at the Oak Street facility?

All items shelved at the facility have a full bibliographic record in the Library’s online catalog and the Oak Street Library Facility location is clearly designated, along with the note "Request Only."

How do users access materials shelved at the facility?

Due to the nature of the high-density shelving arrangements at the Oak Street facility, users are not able to browse materials at the shelf. In every other way, however, the collection can be accessed like any other library collection on campus. You can place requests for items via the Library’s online catalog, and designate either a specific pick-up location or ask to have the material delivered to your office through via campus mail. It takes no longer to request and receive material from the Oak Street facility than it does from any of the UIUC campus libraries. Some brittle, archival, rare, or specially wrapped materials housed at Oak Street may be designated for "Building Use Only." In these instances, the item will be delivered to any one of the campus libraries for you to use onsite.

Is the building be open to the public?

The OSLF has a public reading room where you can come to peruse long journal runs or use certain "Building Use Only" materials, but for the most part users should access the collection remotely and request materials to be delivered to their preferred pick-up location or to their offices via campus mail. Users who wish to consult materials onsite will save time by making these arrangements by phone (265-9476) ahead of time. A small amount of metered public parking is available in the parking lot.