New collections facility to open in January 2025

Collections facility expected to open January 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 October of 2024, with the building opening in January 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).

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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 

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