Albertsons Library Renewal and Renovations

The Library is actively working to reopen the stacks as quickly as possible. Our first priority is completing the fourth floor so that it can fully reopen. From there, work will move to the east side of the third floor followed by the remaining third-floor collections.

Because reopening depends on the pace of reshelving and other building work, we cannot yet provide firm dates for every area. We will share updates as the work progresses.

Reshelving a collection of this size–hundreds of thousands of books–is complex. Materials must be returned in precise call-number order, and the pace of the work depends on staffing, building readiness, and how quickly individual sections can be completed.

Rather than provide dates we may not be able to meet, we will share updates as sections are completed and we have greater confidence in the timeline.

Please contact the Library at circulation@boisestate.edu or your subject librarian. We can help determine the best way to obtain the material you need, including identifying another available copy, an electronic version, interlibrary loan, or other options.

Please contact your subject librarian, submit an interlibrary loan request, or make a purchase request. We can help identify the best way to obtain the material and can consider whether it should be added to the collection.

Yes. We recognize that physical collections are not simply a means of obtaining a known book. Browsing, serendipitous discovery, comparing editions, and learning how a scholarly collection is organized can themselves be important parts of teaching and research.

Subject librarians can work with instructors to identify options while portions of the stacks remain unavailable and help plan for use of the physical collection as areas reopen.

Please contact your subject librarian as early as possible. We want to understand which collections, materials, and spaces are important to your courses so that we can identify options and provide the best support possible.

The Library undertook a long-overdue review to strengthen and reinvigorate the physical collection.

Regular collection review is a standard part of responsible library stewardship. Albertsons Library had not conducted a review of this scale for many years. In early February 2025, a water pipe burst, damaging the third and fourth floors and requiring materials to be removed while those floors underwent renovation. This disruption created both a need and an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review before the materials were reshelved. 

The goal was not simply to reduce the number of books. It was to create a stronger, more useful physical collection that supports Boise State’s current and emerging teaching, learning, and research needs while making effective use of available space and resources.

No. The collection review was not an indiscriminate removal of books.

Materials were evaluated using established criteria and professional judgment. Subject librarians reviewed the collections, and faculty expertise was incorporated into portions of the review. The Library continues to acquire materials and remains committed to maintaining strong physical collections alongside electronic and other resources.

Subject librarians played a central role in reviewing the collections. They brought knowledge of their disciplines, Boise State programs, collection-development practices, and the broader scholarly publishing environment to the process.

Faculty were also invited to review portions of the collection in areas where disciplinary expertise was particularly important.

As a state institution, Boise State must follow requirements governing the disposition of state property. The Library prioritized appropriate recycling or other permitted disposition methods whenever possible. Some components of physical books cannot be recycled and had to be discarded.

 

No. Print remains an important part of the Library’s collections and services.

At the same time, different formats serve different purposes. Electronic resources can provide important advantages for remote learners, accessibility, simultaneous access, and disciplines in which scholarship increasingly occurs electronically. Print can be particularly valuable for sustained reading, browsing, visual and material scholarship, historical research, and disciplines in which monographs remain central.

Our goal is not to choose one format over another, but to build collections that best support Boise State’s students, faculty, teaching, and research.

Collection development is ongoing. Subject librarians will continue working with faculty, students, departments, and programs to identify needs, evaluate existing strengths and gaps, and acquire materials in appropriate formats.

Requests and recommendations from the Boise State community are an important part of that work.

We welcome it. Faculty and students can contact their subject librarian with questions, recommendations, concerns, or information about teaching and research needs.

Faculty are particularly encouraged to share emerging research areas, curricular changes, new programs, accreditation needs, and materials that are important to their disciplines. That expertise helps us build a stronger collection.