• The Libraries Annex, approximately 16,000 square feet in size, is specially constructed to house up to 1.5 million volumes of low-use materials.

• The Annex is located at 3850 Rensch Road across Sweet Home Road from UB's North Campus.

• The UB Libraries have exceeded shelving and space capacity on the academic spine. Our on-campus Libraries have room for 72 miles of shelving, but we own 75 miles of materials, over 3.5 million volumes.
• Our ongoing book and journal purchases require an additional 1.5-2.0 miles of new shelving each year.
• Print materials must continue to be preserved since experts estimate that only 1% of presently published materials will ever be converted to digital format.

• Yale University calculates off-site storage costs as less than 10% of the expense of traditional, on-campus library buildings.
• Traditional library shelving has a capacity of 75,000 volumes in 10,000 square feet of space. Up to 1.5 million volumes can be placed in the same space using high-density storage methods.

• Older books and journals that are used infrequently are under consideration for transfer.
• The selection criteria used in deciding which materials to move out of the campus libraries varies depending upon the needs of the academic disciplines.
• Decisions to transfer materials include consultation with faculty. The Libraries Annex is considered a dynamic collection, which means that volumes may be returned to campus libraries if increased use is evident.

• Requests for materials located in the Annex may be submitted at any time using an online request form available via the UB Libraries' website.
• Books are retrieved by Annex staff, and charged out on the same basis as other circulating library materials.
• In most cases, individual journal articles are transmitted electronically to the requestor's workstation, often within 1 business day. Books are delivered to a campus library or department office within 1 business day.

• The Libraries Annex has a reading room for on-site use of library materials. This space accommodates users who need access to long runs of journals or large numbers of books.
• Virtual browsing is possible via the Libraries online catalog.

• Many large university libraries, faced with the challenge of maintaining strong print collections, while providing access to an expanding array of electronic resources, utilize off-site facilities to help solve their storage problems.
• 85%-90% of institutions in the Association of Research Libraries have ongoing off-site annex initiatives.
• The websites listed below provide additional information on library annex facilities:

  Library Storage Facilities and the Future of Print Collections in North America
  http://www.oclc.org/programs/publications/reports/2007-01.pdf

  Harvard University
  http://hul.harvard.edu/hd/

  Cornell University
  http://www.library.cornell.edu/newannex/

  University of California Northern Regional Library Facility
  http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/NRLF/

  University of Colorado
  http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/about/pascal.htm

Last Update: 1 October, 2008