Thanks to the VCU Board of Visitors and the Office of the Provost, the VCU Libraries soon will relocate up to 200,000 little-used volumes from James Branch Cabell Library to a newly-acquired off-site shelving facility. Together with other changes in Cabell Library, the relocation will open up nearly 19,000 square feet on Cabell’s second floor for critically-needed academic work and study space for students and faculty. This new space is being designed as a “Learning Commons,” a learning space concept that has proven effective and popular at academic research libraries. The Learning Commons will provide a diversity of seating for both solitary study and small group collaboration, comfortable lighting, advanced information technology support, and ample electrical power for student laptops.
The new off-site facility that makes this expansion possible will be housed in the former Ukrop’s Super Market located conveniently between Grace and Broad Streets on Harrison Street. Renovations will transform the building into a dual-use facility, with six state-of-the-art classrooms as well as a separate, secure storage facility for library materials. The VCU Libraries will move little-use books, bound journals that now are available online, and other materials to the facility between the 2009-10 fall and spring semesters. The relocated volumes will remain in the catalog with a simple notation to indicate their new location. Library users will be able to request the relocated items online through the catalog at any time, and can expect delivery to Cabell Library once or twice a day for pickup.