ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

UCSC Library Starts Move into New Addition

The “big move” is on.

Two years ago—in November of 1974— ground was broken for a five-story, 43,000- square-foot addition to the Dean E. McHenry Library at University of California, Santa Cruz.

In November, with completion of the new $2.8 million extension, staff began the job of rearranging some 350,000 books within the expanded building and shelving another 50,000 books which, until now, had been held in storage.

The major part of the project—erecting several hundred shelving units, putting them in place, and filling them with books—is expected to take “about two months,” according to Associate University Librarian Wendell Simons, who is in charge of the move.

“It’s good to have some elbow room,” says University Librarian David Heron, noting that the library’s core collection of 80,000 books has increased to 515,000 volumes in the 11 years since the campus accepted its first students. have a capacity for 750,000 volumes which should serve our needs into the 1980s.”

A “Book Move Update,” posted on a large bulletin board near the reference desk, keeps library users informed of the books being relocated.

“So far everything seems to be going smoothly,” says Simons. “We have had few complaints. As a matter of fact, we have found a couple of books we thought we had lost; apparently they had fallen between shelves and were hidden from sight, a problem not uncommon to libraries.

Addition of the new extension brings total usable space in the McHenry Library to 115,000 square feet.

Reader stations in the library will be increased from 550 to 900.

The administrative offices of the university librarian have been moved from the main floor of the library to the third floor in the new section.

The offices of the deans of humanities and social sciences will be transferred to the area vacated by the university librarian and his staff.

Career Planning and Placement is now located on the third floor of the library, and space is being remodeled for Summer Session, Administrative Systems, and other miscellaneous offices on the fourth floor.

UCSC’s Dean E. McHenry Library, named for the founding chancellor of the campus, was designed by John Carl Warnecke and Associates of San Francisco; building contractor for the extension was Bogard Construction Co. of Santa Cruz.