The Strategic Air Command Bunker (filled with books) Almost Full

The Five College Library Depository is the topic of an article, “Short on Space, Libraries Look to One Another for Solutions” in the October 7, 2013 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

 

“Christopher B. Loring, the director of the libraries at Smith College, has a problem with his Strategic Air Command bunker—it’s almost full.

The bunker, long since retired from military service, now operates as a high-density book-storage facility for Smith and the rest of the Five College Consortium (Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst). It can hold about 570,000 volumes and now contains about 540,000. In about five years Smith will run out of places to house all its books, according to Mr. Loring.”

Read the full article at: http://chronicle.com/article/Short-on-Space-Libraries-Look/142145/

If you ever get curious about that Strategic Air Command Bunker, tucked into The Notch during the cold war, you can read more online. Information about borrowing one of the safely held volumes in the Bunker are available on the Five College Library Depository website.