When students return to Iowa State this fall, the Parks Library Special Collections Department will not be the same.

The Special Collections Department will be closed for the construction and installation of electric shelving on rails in the department’s storage room. Special collections includes the university archives.

The Special Collections Department will be closed from May 12 through August 22.

In addition to moving more than 10,000 linear feet of archive material, the project includes adding more overhead lighting, expanding the electrical wiring to accommodate the shelving system and constructing a second floor, into which rails for the moving shelves will be built.

The shelving project was scheduled in conjunction with the completion of the library’s new storage building in the Pammel Court area. The cost of building the shelves, including maintenance, is $117,663, said Nancy Eaton, dean of library services.

The planning for the construction has been in the works for awhile now. The result of the project will be an improved and environmentally controlled facility so that Parks Library can continue to collect rare and unique research material on behalf of the ISU community.

Tyler Walters, acting head of special collections, said the new shelving will give the department at least 20 years of growth space.

The activity at the library in the summer is much lighter than the rest of the year. “We do have people who have put in special requests for use of information out of special collections while we will be closed and we are trying to accommodate as much as possible to their needs,” Eaton said.