List of closed stack libraries
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A closed stack library contains books and other items that are not available for viewing or browsing by the general public. Many important libraries close their stacks of books to the public, limiting retrieval to professional library staff only (policies on who may use the collections varies). Most private, larger public, and university/academic/research libraries who have open stacks also have special collections that are closed. Reasons for having closed stacks vary, and include preventing theft, vandalism, and minimizing reshelving errors.
Examples
- Académie Nationale de Médecine in Paris, France
- Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The library contains rare books and original manuscripts.
- Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, France
- Boston Athenaeum
- British Library - most items in London and all items at Boston Spa in Yorkshire
- Deering Library at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois
- Fales Library on the third floor of the New York University Bobst Library in New York City. 200,000 volumes.
- Free Library of Philadelphia
- Frick Art Reference Library in New York City. 285,000 books. 80,000 auction catalogs.
- Leiden University Library in Leiden
- The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. over 34,000,000 volumes as of 2010.
- Research collections of The New York Public Library in New York City
- National Library of Australia in Canberra, Australia. 10 million volumes
- National Library of Finland in Helsinki, Finland
- Radcliffe Science Library at the University of Oxford, England
- Ralph Brown Draughon Library at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.
- The Rare Book & Manuscript Library and the Bookstacks of the Main Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
- Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire
- Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago
- Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. Original manuscripts.
- The Special Collections division of the University at Buffalo Libraries in Amherst, NY, which includes the Poetry Collection, Archives, and Rare Books.
- State of Arizona Research Library, a division of the Secretary of State of Arizona in Phoenix, AZ, which includes the Arizona Collection, the Federal Documents Collection, the Arizona State Government Publications Collection, a map collection, a law collection, and the largest collection of Arizona newspapers in Arizona.
- Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives on the tenth floor of the New York University Bobst Library in New York City. 75,000 volumes.
- Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada
- Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta Library
References
- ↑ "Closed stack". dictionary.com. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
Having access to the stacks limited to the staff of the library or to a limited group of library users.
- ↑ Boston Athenaeum's Research Appointment Information for the Special Collections Reading Room
- ↑ "How to order items". The British Library. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ↑ "The Fales Library & Special Collections". Fales Library. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
We maintain a closed stacks reading room for scholarly access to our book collections, archival and manuscript collections, and media holdings.
- ↑ Frick Library collection reference.
- ↑ Frick Library reference to noncirculating materials
- ↑ "Borrow - Leiden University". www.library.universiteitleiden.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ↑ Reference to using the closed stacks at the Library of Congress
- ↑ List of libraries in the United States with more than five million volumes Library of Congress circulation listed
- ↑ New York Public Library's Research Divisions
- ↑ National Library of Australia Facts and Figures
- ↑ National Library of Finland mentions its closed stacks on their website
- ↑ "Bookstacks Access". The Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
... access to this area is restricted to faculty and graduate students of the University of Illinois and those patrons with special access cards
- ↑ "Expectations in the Reading Room". Dartmouth Libraries. Trustees of Dartmouth College. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
Except for reference stacks along the perimeter of the reading room, the Special Collections stacks are closed to browsing.
- ↑ University of Chicago's Special Collections
- ↑ "Mudd Library's Rules and Regulations". Princeton University. Archived from the original on 2015-04-08. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
The collections are non-circulating and are used only in designated reading rooms.
- ↑ University at Buffalo's Collections policies page, including closed stacks policy.
- ↑ State of Arizona Research Library
- ↑ Reference to New York University's Tamiment Library using a closed stack system
- ↑ "Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Accessing the Collections". Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ↑ Bruce Peel Special Collections Library at the University of Alberta