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| Regenstein Library | |
|---|---|
 Main approach to Regenstein Library | |
 | |
| 41°47′32″N87°35′59″W / 41.7922°N 87.5998°W /41.7922; -87.5998 | |
| Location | Hyde Park, Chicago,United States |
| Type | Academic library |
| Established | 1970 (1970) |
| Branch of | University of Chicago Library |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | books,journals,newspapers,magazines,sound and music recordings,maps,prints,drawings andmanuscripts |
| Size | 4.5 million[1] |
| Access and use | |
| Members | 33,000 |
| Other information | |
| Director | Torsten Reimer |
| Website | lib.uchicago.edu |
| References:Abbott Report | |
TheJoseph Regenstein Library (/ˈriːɡənstaɪn/RAY-gən-styne), colloquiallyThe Reg, is the primary library of theUniversity of Chicago. Part of theUniversity of Chicago Library system, it is located on the university’sHyde Park campus on theSouth Side ofChicago. Named after the industrialist and philanthropistJoseph Regenstein, it is one of the largest repositories of books in the world.[2] The Regenstein is noted for itsbrutalist architecture.[3][4]
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The library stands on the former grounds ofStagg Field.
Herman H. Fussler, director of libraries from 1948-1971, was central to its planning.[5]
In 1965, the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Foundation donated $10 million to the University for construction of the library. In 1968, the university broke ground, and in 1970 the library opened at the final cost of $20,750,000. The building was designed by theChicago firmSkidmore, Owings & Merrill, led by senior architectWalter Netsch. It is built out of groovedlimestone, which, from a distance, resembles concrete. University tour guides often remark on the resemblance between each element of the building's facade and thefore edge of a book.
TheUniversity of Chicago Graduate Library School was housed in the Joseph Regenstein Library until its closure. Today, the "Reg" is the flagship institution of the University of Chicago Library system, which is considered among the top five in the world for breadth and depth of material,[citation needed] and receives high marks from users (The Princeton Review placed it in the top nine for college students).
The building has five floors above ground and two basements. Each floor has a large reading room in the center with desks, group study rooms, lockers and shelved reference works. The reading rooms on floors two and three are connected by a small atrium. The reading rooms are separated from the stacks, located on the west side of the building, so that the stacks can be maintained at lower temperatures, which are more amicable to book conservation. Two hundred and twenty faculty studies line the east side of the building.[6]
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The Regenstein's overflowing collection posed space problems for the book stacks. In May 2005, the University of Chicago's Board of Trustees authorized funding for a $42 million addition to the library, which was completed mid-2011. TheJoe and Rika Mansueto Library, designed by Chicago-based architectHelmut Jahn, consists of a glass-domed reading room, under which lies an automated storage and retrieval system stretching fifty feet underground. It allows the library to maintain physical copies of materials available online while creating space within the book stacks to accommodate approximately 20 years of new print acquisitions.[7]
The Regenstein Library is a popular social space for University of Chicago college students: "On our campus, it's not the football game that draws the biggest crowd, it's evening study in the library," said former ProvostRichard Saller. "We're a campus where the library is sort of the social center because it is the focus [of the university]."[8]
The Regenstein Library is also the location of theHanna Holborn GraySpecial Collections Research Center,[9] which houses rare book collections, manuscripts, and university archives. The SCRC was established in 1953 byHerman H. Fussler and was moved to the "Reg" when it opened in 1970.[citation needed] As of May 2025[update], the rare books collection currently holds approximately 350,000 volumes.[10]
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