A digital revolution is underway at the University of Denver's Penrose Library, where a $30 million renovation will cut the number of bound books and journals and push the remainder into the basement to create space more friendly to tech-savvy students.
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Like most libraries, Penrose has been increasing the digital content offered in the catalog. Today, the library's customers have access to 1.7 million digital links — 686,442 of which lead to electronic books that can be checked out to computers or readers, such as the iPad, Kindle or Nook.
E-books have helped cut the cost of library acquisitions, said Penrose's collections librarian Michael Levine-Clark.
Nearly 40 percent of the 126,953 hard-copy books purchased for Penrose between 2000 and 2004 have gone unused. The library can rent e-books and purchase them after they are checked out four times, rather than buying a volume that might never be used.
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The digitization at DU is ongoing but won't eliminate print products, said library director Nancy Allen. "We are like every library. We are doing a lot to bring the world of digital books to our students and faculty, but that doesn't mean we abandon our paper collection."
About 140,000 of the 1.1 million books now on the shelves will go into storage along with about a million bound scholarly journals, documents and other materials. Those who need access to them will have it.
More University of Denver library usage statistics are included in the slides. Michael Levine-Clark from the University of Denver was one of the panelists.
A brief mention of the Penrose Library with the University of Denver Chancellor Robert Coombe saying that the library will turned into an "academic commons."
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