Showcasing the Lessons of the Past in Brand New Library Shelving
For a variety of reasons, making the case for installing new library shelving isn’t always an easy one to make for today’s institutions of higher learning. For Columbia’s USC Law Library, however, ambition and opportunity met in total serendipity. The chance to move into a brand new building provided an exciting number of design upgrade prospects. Changing student behaviors meant it was time to re-examine not only the library’s collection, but how it was stored and used.
HOW STORAGE MADE THE DIFFERENCE.
When it became official that the University of South Carolina’s Law School Library was going to move into a new building, it was an opportunity to create a space that not only allowed students to collaborate and learn, but to install state-of-the-art shelving, as well. A mixture of high-density compact shelving in the new basement, along with open shelving on the first three floors and the school’s South Carolina Legal History Room yielded attractive, approachable upgrades.
Multiple storage solutions on multiple floors provided a range of attractive, innovative and forward-looking installations. More than 27,000 linear feet in the new library’s basement now houses a high-density system that houses a great deal of the library’s nearly 300,000 volumes. By condensing much of the collection in a single area, many spaces within the building have been freed up for collaborative student work, as well as areas designated for plugging in electronic devices or for quiet study.
“It’s readily apparent that Patterson Pope does so much more than just provide a product. They are consultants, and that makes a big difference.”
— Duncan Alford, Associate Dean USC School of Law and Director, Law Library
