Say It Ain't So
Many of my fondest memories from college are the quiet moments I spent in the Regenstein Library stacks, paging through a centuries old book I was supposed to be shelving as part of my work-study job. The Regenstein was designed by Walter Netsch in his much-hated brutalist style, but it's truly a marvelous building -- functional yet awe-inspiring, staggeringly large but intimate. And from the air, it's shaped like the United States!
Imagine my dismay to read the following:
"The University of Chicago is planning a $42 million expansion of its Regenstein Library, a project officials say will provide space for its growing print collection while propelling the facility into the digital age.
"The 40,000-square-foot addition to the library, which was built on the former site of the university's football stadium, will hold about 8 million of the university's collection of 11 million volumes. University officials say more than half of the collection will remain accessible on library shelves.
"Plans also include an automated shelving facility that will use bar codes and bins to track and store books and journals. The shelving system will require just 15 percent the floor space of a conventional shelving system and will select and deliver a book within five minutes, library officials said."
Two problems with this:
Unless they're expanding underground, I don't understand how they'll be able to keep the integrity of the building design intact (unless they add Mexico or Canada).
With automated stacks, how are they going to keep the lazy work-study employees busy?
Imagine my dismay to read the following:
"The University of Chicago is planning a $42 million expansion of its Regenstein Library, a project officials say will provide space for its growing print collection while propelling the facility into the digital age.
"The 40,000-square-foot addition to the library, which was built on the former site of the university's football stadium, will hold about 8 million of the university's collection of 11 million volumes. University officials say more than half of the collection will remain accessible on library shelves.
"Plans also include an automated shelving facility that will use bar codes and bins to track and store books and journals. The shelving system will require just 15 percent the floor space of a conventional shelving system and will select and deliver a book within five minutes, library officials said."
Two problems with this:
Unless they're expanding underground, I don't understand how they'll be able to keep the integrity of the building design intact (unless they add Mexico or Canada).
With automated stacks, how are they going to keep the lazy work-study employees busy?
Comments
Post a Comment