Beneath our feet lie the former grounds of Stagg Field. Now, we stand before the Joseph Regenstein Library. Colloquially known as “The Reg,” it’s the University of Chicago’s primary library. Joseph Regenstein Library is located on the University’s Hyde Park campus. It resides on the South Side of Chicago.
The Joseph Regenstein Library is named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. It is one of the largest book repositories in the world. This library is noted for its brutalist architecture. The Joseph Regenstein Foundation gave $10 million for the library’s construction in 1965.
Construction broke ground in 1968. The library opened in 1970 at a final cost of $20750000. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the building. Walter Netsch led the Chicago firm. The building’s facade resembles the fore edge of a book. University tour guides often point this out.
The University of Chicago Graduate Library School was once housed here. Today, Joseph Regenstein Library is the flagship institution of the University of Chicago Library system. The system ranks among the top five in the world for its material’s breadth and depth. Users give it high marks. The Princeton Review placed it in the top nine for college students.
The Joseph Regenstein Library building has five floors above ground. It also has two basements. Each floor features a large reading room in the center. There are desks, group study rooms, lockers and reference works. The reading rooms on floors two and three are connected by a small atrium.
Stacks are located on the west side of the building. They are maintained at lower temperatures. This is more amicable to book conservation. Two hundred and twenty faculty studies line the east side of the building.
The Joseph Regenstein Library’s collection once caused space problems. An addition was authorized in May 2005. It cost $42 million. Construction finished mid-2011. The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library was designed by Helmut Jahn. It features a glass-domed reading room. An automated storage and retrieval system stretches fifty feet underground. It allows maintaining physical copies of materials available online. This also created space for approximately 20 years of new print acquisitions.
The Joseph Regenstein Library is a popular social space for University of Chicago college students. Former Provost Richard Saller once said that the library is the social center of the university. It is the focus of the university.
The Joseph Regenstein Library also houses the Special Collections Research Center. This center holds rare book collections, manuscripts, and university archives. Herman H. Fussler established the SCRC in 1953. It moved to the Joseph Regenstein Library when it opened in 1970. The rare books collection currently holds approximately 265000 volumes.
The Joseph Regenstein Library covers 577085 gross square feet. Its maximum east-west dimension is 344 feet. Its maximum north-south dimension is 411 feet 6 inches.
Since its opening in 1970, the Joseph Regenstein Library has been a key part of student life at the University of Chicago. The reinforced concrete building features seven stories. There is also a mechanical penthouse. It maximizes its storage capacities using compact shelving on its B-level. This houses its diverse collections. Though a work of Brutalist architecture, it honors the Gothic tradition. It uses positive and negative space in its mass to play with light and shadow.