Physical Science and Engineering Library
to close during August for renovations
By Emily
Silverman, special to the Chronicle
he Physical Sciences and Engineering Library in the Lederle Graduate
Research Center will close for renovations during the month of August.
Improvements slated for the library include a new lobby, fresh paint,
new carpeting and furnishings, and alterations to allow public access
to the elevator.
Prior to the renovation,
Library staff, student workers and faculty volunteers are working
every day from 8:30 a.m. to noon to move 100,000 volumes out of
the building. Their goal is to pull, box and process at least 2,500
volumes a day, and send them up to the Five College Library Depository
in South Amherst. The move will allow for the merging of the Biological
Sciences Library into the Physical Sciences and Engineering Library
next January.
There are several critical
steps involved in such a move. First, materials in the depository
are arranged by size, not by subject or call number. The books must
be packed into size-appropriate boxes, as books are not shelved
individually. Each item's record in the library catalog must be
updated, so when a researcher seeks one of the relocated items,
a new location (FC Depository) will appear. A link to an online
form will enable users to request delivery of materials from the
depository. The usual turnaround time on requests is 24 hours during
weekdays.
Items moving to the depository
are lesser-used materials. Lists of the specific titles scheduled
for transfer to the Depository are available online (www.library.umass.edu/whatsnew/transfers.html).
Materials at the depository may also be consulted on site by appointment.
Contact the depository by e-mail (bunker
@fivecolleges.edu) phone at 542-8231.
Last March, the Faculty Senate
voted to support the Research Library Council's recommendation to
consolidate and reorganize the Biological Sciences Library in Morrill
and the Physical Sciences and Engineering Library into a single
Integrated Sciences and Engineering Library. The report stated that
the best site for the integrated library is the space currently
occupied by the Physical Sciences and Engineering Library in Lederle.
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