The Bunker and the Annex

Have you ever done a search in the library catalog and noticed a location that said

and wondered what meant?   The Five College Depository, now referred to as The Five College Repository, is essentially where we store all of our lesser-used materials.  These materials are still able to be requested in the same exact way that you would request any Five College book or dvd.   But, the cool fact is that these materials are stored in what is affectionately known as “The Bunker” because in fact, its original purpose was a Strategic Air Command Bunker. The facility is located at the west end of Military Road, off Route 116 at The Notch, in South Amherst, under 10 minutes from Hampshire College.   Materials are stored in compact shelving in a climate controlled area of this former Strategic Air Command Bunker.

Then more recently, as more storage space was needed, the Five College Library Annex was constructed in Hatfield, MA and completed in 2017.  The Annex currently houses 1.2 million items of the circulating collection of the Smith College library while the main Neilson Library at the college undergoes renovations according to a design by renowned architect Maya Lin.  The Annex also holds 200,000 items of the 800,000 in the Five College Library Repository Collection (FCLRC) and about 100,000 University Archives and Special Collections items for the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

For further information about the FCLRC, including how to access materials, please see the Five College Library Repository Collection page located here.