UB Libraries Open Storage Annex

A little more than a year after breaking ground, the UB Libraries will celebrate the completion of a new storage facility with a grand opening reception this afternoon at the cavernous building on Rensch Road across Sweet Home Road from the North Campus.

Stephen Roberts, acting associate vice president for university libraries, says the new annex will alleviate a serious lack of storage space in the libraries. It also will free up space for other university needs.

"This will allow us to repurpose and renovate library space to meet current and future library needs," in particular, space for new library materials, as well as group study areas, quiet study rooms, a computer lab and high-tech classrooms, Roberts says.

Moreover, it will provide "space for other university priorities," he says, calling the initiative "an important part of the UB 2020 master plan for space utilization."

Only low-use research materials will be stored in the specially designed annex, Roberts says. The 16,000-square-foot facility can hold 1.5 million volumes -- about one-third of the total University Libraries collection -- and features 30-foot-tall, high-density shelving.

He explains that UB has "miles" of bound volumes, journals and monographs that are rarely, if ever, used. But "we don't want to throw them out; we need to keep them safe so if you need it, we have it," he says.

The materials will be bar-coded for easy retrieval using a storage system modeled closely on one in use at Cornell University, Roberts says.

The facility will include a reading room so researchers can access materials there, but it also will feature a new generation of scanning equipment that will be used to send materials to users electronically.

"In most cases, if someone needs an article that's in storage, we can pull it out, scan it and send it by email," rather than sending the physical document, he says.