New collections facility to open in April 2025
Collections facility expected to open April 2025
Construction began in April 2023 on a new collections facility that will meet the long-term preservation needs for the University of Minnesota Libraries. The 60,000-square-foot building will be located on University property near the intersection of Como and 29th avenues in Minneapolis.
Construction is expected to be complete in February 2025, with the building opening in April 2025.
The high-density facility will hold approximately 3.7 million volumes and will
- enable preservation of unique, distinctive, and rare materials,
- create the possibility to re-envision high-demand, on-campus spaces for students, researchers, and instructors,
- enable all special collections to be consolidated within the Andersen Library Caverns, and
- allow for growth of print collections.
Watch the progress through the project's construction-site camera (photos taken every 12 minutes).
Access and preservation safeguards
Materials stored in the collections facility will be accessible via digital and physical delivery, with pick up available at any of our campus libraries. An on-site reading room will provide access to materials that are in library use only.
The facility also will offer the same industry-standard environmental, security, and fire-suppression safeguards currently provided in the Caverns beneath Elmer L. Andersen Library.
“Having a new facility is critical for us to ensure that we properly preserve the University’s most valued and unique assets, while having space to plan for the future,” said Lisa German, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries. She added that the facility will allow the University of Minnesota to continue to be one of the top academic libraries for lending and sharing books and other materials.
Relocating collections to the new facility
We will begin relocating collections to the new facility in early 2025, It will take about 17 months to relocate select materials to the collections facility. During the move, there may be slight delays at certain times in accessing some materials. Requests for materials that are temporarily unavailable will be routed to and fulfilled quickly through our Interlibrary Loan service.
Questions?
If you have a question about the Collections Facility, please complete our contact form and someone will get back to you in one to two days. Thank you.
More information Articles and timeline
Articles
“Collections”
—Libraries News, Feb 10, 2023.
“Regents approve $62.7 million for collections facility”
—Libraries News, Sept 1, 2022
Timeline
June 2022:
Predesign is completed and University construction funding is approved
May 2023:
Collection facility site construction begins
Sept 2023:
Building construction begins
Dec 2024:
Construction is completed
Jan 2025:
Occupancy begins
Feb 2025:
Collection facility begins receiving collections