Moving a library
Book by book, shelf by shelf UMN Libraries staff have moved nearly 500,000 books and materials in preparation for the demolition of Magrath Library and the construction of the new Saint Paul Campus Center
The year is 1951. Harry S. Truman was president, the Treaty of San Francisco officially ended World War II, and construction began for a new library on the St. Paul campus.
The Agriculture Library would open two years later, (it was renamed in 1998 after C. Peter Magrath, the 11th president of the University of MInnesota), and it promised to further research and education for generations of students.
But on May 13, after 73 years of service, Magrath Library officially closed its doors. In its place comes the new Saint Paul Campus Center (SPCC).
In addition to a new library space, the center will also house student unions, campus dining, a new University of Minnesota Bookstore, and two classrooms for the College of Continuing and Professional Studies.
“I’m very excited about the new St. Paul Campus Center,” said Dean of the Libraries Lisa German. “It will be a hub, where students can take a class, go to a student meeting, get lunch, and then grab their course materials and settle in to study in our new library – all in one space.”
The project is estimated to cost around $126 million. Construction will begin in November 2026, and the center is scheduled to open in April 2029.
In the meantime, what will happen to the nearly 500,000 books and other materials that were previously housed at Magrath Library?
Over the summer, staff and student workers from across UMN Libraries coordinated a massive move to rehouse these materials. The majority, 50.4 percent, were shipped to Wilson Library; 41.5 percent went to the UMN Libraries Collections Facility; and 8 percent went to the St. Paul Campus Library in Hodson Hall (formerly the Natural Resources Library).
The remaining .1 percent was divided between the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine, Andersen Library, the Andersen Horticultural Library, and the Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library.
The St. Paul Campus Library will support all the colleges, departments, and programs on the St. Paul campus until the new campus center opens. There patrons can also find the Doris S. Kirschner Cookbook Collection and Magrath’s popular reading collection.
“This move took hundreds of hours of labor, from the physical deshelving and reshelving, to scanning and recataloging, all to ensure that these materials remain findable and deliverable to all library patrons,” said Dean German.
“I am profoundly grateful to our staff for their care and dedication. They provide world class-service to our patrons, no matter the circumstances.They are what makes UMN Libraries one of the nation’s top R1 libraries and what will make the new St. Paul Campus Library a success.”
The system-wide undertaking involved many library departments including: Access and Information Services (AIS); Facilities and Operations Management (FOM); Library Enterprise Systems (LES); Cataloging, Metadata, and Digitization Services (CMD); Collections Management and Preservation (CMP); Archives and Special Collections (ASC); Engagement, Outreach, and Community Partnerships (EOCP); Sciences, Agriculture, and Engineering (SAgE); Technology Support and Consultation, Web Development, and Libraries Communications.
Without their effort, none of this would be possible. View the full photo gallery here.
