#Library stacks windows

вЂњOur priority is being good stewards of those collections so researchers can access them now and in the future.вЂќ вЂњThe heart of the New York Public Library has always been its collections,вЂќ he said.

William Kelly, the director of the research libraries, said that even if the stacks were retrofitted for books, they would not provide as much protection as these modern, state-of-the-art storage systems, which the library plans to expand. Less requested books have been sent to New Jersey and are trucked in within 24 hours after a request (some researchers complain it can take longer). Popular and more recent books are under the park more shelves were added in 2015. The books from the stacks have been divided between the two outside storage spaces.

#Library stacks windows

But library officials said little could be done about the towering windows that overlooked Bryant Park and allowed in sunlight and moisture, or the 26 entrances to the stacks that posed a security risk.ДЄbout 300,000 books - mainly the most valuable and fragile - remain inside the Fifth Avenue building in special collection rooms. Later, the stacks were modernized with fire sprinklers and air-conditioners that struggled to cool down the space. The books were sent up in mini-lifts resembling dumbwaiters. Instead, books were requested by filling out a slip of paper that was whisked down a pneumatic tube to workers in the stacks below. The stacks themselves were off limits to library patrons.

From the beginning, they served a dual purpose: Stacked one on top of another, they held up the grand, chandelier-lit reading room. The stacks, fashioned out of steel from the industrialist Andrew Carnegie, were part of the original design of the building. Joan Scott, a historian at the Institute for Advanced Study, said the stacks were designed to hold books, and вЂњit doesnвЂ™t make sense for them not to be used for books and special collections.вЂќ