List of closed stack libraries

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 and minimizing reshelving errors.^[1]

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^[2]
• 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.^[3]
• Frick Art Reference Library in New York City. 285,000 books. 80,000 auction catalogs.^[4][5]
• Leiden University Library in Leiden.
• The Library of Congress in Washington D.C..^[6] over 34,000,000 volumes as of 2010.^[7]
• Research collections of The New York Public Library in New York City^[8]
• National Library of Australia in Canberra, Australia. 10 million volumes^[9]
• National Library of Finland in Helsinki, Finland^[10]
• Radcliffe Science Library at the University of Oxford, England
• The Rare Book & Manuscript Library and the Bookstacks of the Main Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.^[11]
• Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago^[12]
• Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. Original manuscripts.^[13]
• The Special Collections division of the University at Buffalo Libraries in Amherst, NY, which includes the Poetry Collection, Archives, and Rare Books.^[14]
• 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.^[15]
• Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
• Bruce Peel Special Collections Library at the University of Alberta^[16]

References

1. "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.
2. Boston Athenaeum's Research Appointment Information for the Special Collections Reading Room
3. "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.
4. Frick Library collection reference.
5. Frick Library reference to noncirculating materials
6. Reference to using the closed stacks at the Library of Congress
7. List of libraries in the United States with more than five million volumes Library of Congress circulation listed
8. New York Public Library's Research Divisions
9. National Library of Australia Facts and Figures
10. National Library of Finland mentions its closed-stacks on their website
11. "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
12. University of Chicago's Special Collections
13. "Mudd Library's Rules and Regulations". Princeton University. Retrieved 2015-07-01. The collections are non-circulating and are used only in designated reading rooms.
14. University at Buffalo's Collections policies page, including closed stacks policy.
15. Reference to New York University's Tamiment Library using a closed stack system
16. Bruce Peel Special Collections Library at the University of Alberta