Each year University Libraries adds more than 20,000 physical items to our collections – requiring nearly ½ mile of shelving – without the possibility of adding more square feet to existing buildings.
Recently we have been allocated an existing UNM building, located on the South Campus, to use as a Library Annex. The Library Annex will house less-used library materials in a climate-controlled, high-density environment allowing us to address significant space constraints in our existing Central Campus libraries – Zimmerman, Centennial Science & Engineering, Fine Arts & Design and Parish Memorial Libraries.
Planning is just beginning for how we will use the new facility and what structural changes need to be made to the space. The Annex should be ready for library use in early 2019. Material moved to the Annex will continue to be available through both electronic delivery as well as courier pickup and delivery.
Anyone who uses the library to find books and other physical material knows how tightly packed many areas of the stacks are currently and the problems this situation causes for finding materials. Students, especially, find it very difficult to locate material. Having additional space in the Annex will allow us to maintain and continue to build our strong print collections in addition to growing collection of digital resources
It also permits us to consider options for improving our spaces for library users. Given that we have run out of shelving space in the Libraries, our options boil down to – start removing books from the shelves and dispose of them or to stop adding new physical material to the library’s holdings, relying instead on electronic only content. Now we will be able to safeguard our large historical print collections and continue to add to them.
We are just beginning the planning process for the Annex, an undertaking that will continue through the summer and into the fall. Our first steps involve analyzing circulation and use data for our collections. We will also incorporate information on peer library holdings and identify what items we have that are unique. By the summer’s end, our library faculty and staff will have the results of this analysis compiled and ready for discussions with the campus community. We are particularly interested in feedback on collections that faculty consider to be critical for retention on open shelves in our main campus libraries. One of our guiding principles will be to continually review and revisit any decisions in the future as the need arises.
Meetings with departments, faculty and other stakeholders will be scheduled in Fall 2018 to discuss the plans for the building.
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