Shapiro Undergraduate Library: A Hub for Learning and Research at the University of Michigan

The University of Michigan Library system stands as a cornerstone of academic life, providing a wealth of resources and services to students, faculty, and researchers. Among its many branches, the Shapiro Undergraduate Library (UGLi) holds a special place as a central hub for undergraduate learning and collaboration. This article delves into the history, resources, and unique atmosphere of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library, exploring its role within the broader University of Michigan Library system.

The University of Michigan Library System: A Legacy of Knowledge

Founded in 1838, the University of Michigan Library is one of the largest academic library systems in the world. As of 2019-20, the University Library contained more than 14,543,814 volumes, while all campus library systems combined held more than 16,025,996 volumes. The University Library is housed in 12 buildings with more than 20 libraries, among the most significant of which are the Shapiro Undergraduate Library, Hatcher Graduate Library, Special Collections Library, and Taubman Health Sciences Library.

Several U-M libraries are independent of the University Library: the Bentley Historical Library, the William L. Clements Library, the Gerald R. Ford Library, the Kresge Business Administration Library at the Ross School of Business, and the Law Library at the University of Michigan Law School.

A History of Growth and Innovation

The Michigan Legislature created the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1838, and that year allocated funding for a library. The next year (three years before classes began), the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan acquired the University Library's first volume, John James Audubon's Birds of America, purchased at a cost of $970. Before the university's first years, books were stored in various places around campus, including at the Law School and in various professors' homes.

In 1856, the North Wing of the University Building was remodeled, and books centralized in the university's Library and Museum there. In 1863, the Library moved to the Law Building. In 1883, with Raymond Cazallis Davis (chief librarian) as a motivating force in its completion, the university's first library building was finished. The Old Library, designed by architects Ware and Van Brunt, was completed in 1883, with an addition built to the south in 1898.

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By 1915, the overcrowded, wood-constructed General Library was designated a fire hazard by the Board of Regents. Designed by architect Albert Kahn, the library building (which is today the north building of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library) was dedicated on January 7, 1920. By 1940, the University Library's card catalog had 2,000 trays and 1.75 million cards.

In 1970, an eight-story addition was built, where much of the print collections are housed, along with the Library's administration offices, the Map Library, Special Collections, and Papyrology. The Undergraduate Library was built in 1958, and renamed for Harold T. and Vivian B. Shapiro.

Embracing the Digital Age

The University of Michigan was the original home of the JSTOR database, which contains about 750,000 digitized pages from the entire pre-1990 backfile of ten journals of history and economics. In December 2004, the University of Michigan announced a book digitization program in collaboration with Google (known as Michigan Digitization Project). Books scanned by Google are included in HathiTrust, a digital library created by a partnership of major research institutions.

Responding to restricted public funding and the rising costs of print materials, the library has launched significant new ventures that use digital technology to provide cost-effective and permanent alternatives to traditional print publication.

Since the early 1990s, the University of Michigan Library has been a leader among research libraries in efforts to digitize its vast collections. The Digital Library Production Service (DLPS) of the U-M Library oversees the digitization of Library materials, and the development of online access systems for these digitized materials. DLPS developed its own digital library software, called Digital Library Extension Service (DLXS), that provides a uniform interface for its digitized items. DLPS is also affiliated with the Text Creation Partnership (TCP) to create searchable, full-text versions of works digitized in the Early English Books Online, Evans Early American Imprints, and the Eighteenth Century Collection Online projects.

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In December 2004 the University Library and Google announced their plans to digitize the over 7 million print volumes held by the Library. Especially old and fragile items, or items in special collections, will not be handled by Google; these the Library will scan itself.

The Shapiro Undergraduate Library: A Hub for Undergraduate Life

The Harold T. and Vivian B. Shapiro Undergraduate Library (called "the UGLi," a pre-renovation nickname that stuck) includes all four floors of the Shapiro Library Building. It is a popular study and meeting place for U-M undergraduates and has a solid, generalist collection of about 200,000 books and journals. The Shapiro Undergraduate Library, otherwise known as the UGLi, is located right on the Diag and is one of the largest libraries on the University of Michigan’s campus.

Resources and Services

The UGLi offers a great many services to its students, including Course Reserves, Reference Services, and the Peer Information Consultant (PIC) program, which allows students to get research advice from fellow undergraduates. The UGLi also offers online access to leading business, science, education, and arts and sciences databases. Its selection of over 350 databases contains full-text journals, magazines, reports, and newspapers.

The basement and fourth floor of Shapiro hold books on astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, natural resources, mathematics, physics, and statistics.

Askwith Media Library

Askwith Media Library, formerly the Film and Video Library, was renamed and moved to the second floor of the Shapiro Library Building. The Askwith Media Library contains over 25,000 titles, including feature films, documentaries, and instructional programs available for checkout, on-site viewing, or streaming.

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A Unique Atmosphere on Every Floor

Shapiro consists of four floors and a basement, and also has a coffee shop right at the entrance. On the third floor it attaches to the adjacent Hatcher Graduate Library by a tunnel. One of the most notable aspects of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library is its distinct atmosphere on each floor. This varied environment caters to different study preferences and needs, making it a versatile space for all undergraduates.

The basement was fairly quiet and had a little bit of decoration. The walls were not bare, but the basement had certainly not been renovated in years. The people studying seemed pretty focused, and only a handful of people were not focusing on their work. The first floor was much more social, and the noise level was high. It was clearly renovated recently, and there was a lot of technology. The students on this floor were not all focused on studying, as most people were either in conversations or looked like they were trying to take a nap. Up on the second floor, the atmosphere was very much like the basement, but with a little more technology.

The third floor was incredibly quiet, with only the occasional whisper. Any sound at all stood out to the people doing work. The people on this floor sat more spread out than on the other floors. Everyone on this floor looked like they were doing something important and actively trying to accomplish this task. As I entered the fourth floor, it seemed like all the norms from the third floor were strict rules. Talking did not just seem unwelcome; I think it was not allowed. A lot of the students on the fourth floor wore headphones even though it was already silent. I wondered if this was to further ensure that they would not hear any noise whatsoever. The fourth floor looked like it had not had any new decorations in years.

It seems apparent to me that the library really wanted to set up an environment on the upper floors that was a silent place for focused study. The decorations were incredibly minimal, and the walls were almost all white. Rows and rows of bookshelves lined these floors. The tables were also separated from each other to ensure that students would feel disconnected from other people, and they could focus. The technology was minimal, except for a few computers where student could work alone.

Bert's Café

The UGLi is also home to Bert's Café, which opened in February 2008. The café was donated by Bertram Askwith (LSA '31), who is also the donor of the Askwith Media Library.

Other Libraries within the University of Michigan System

The University of Michigan Library operates a network of libraries throughout the city of Michigan. It provides a range of informational, educational, cultural and recreational resources. The library has a collection of videos, CDs and DVDs. The University of Michigan Library also maintains a stock of more than 600 dental journals. It features artwork related to botany, zoology, behavioral biology, paleontology and archaeological anthropology. The library conducts book discussions, workshops and online tutorial classes. The University of Michigan Library offers books on various topics, such as nuclear engineering, urban planning, science, humanities, economics and business management. The library conducts various educational events for youths. The University of Michigan Library also provides newspapers, articles, research papers and bibliographies.

Hatcher Graduate Library

The Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library is the university's primary research collection for the humanities and social sciences. It contains over 3.5 million volumes and over 10,000 periodicals written in more than 300 languages. Commonly cited collecting strengths of the Graduate Library include English and French history, papyrology, Germanic history and culture, classical archeology, military history, English Literature, social and political movements.

A number of units are physically in the Hatcher Library or are organizationally associated with the Hatcher Library. Stephen S. The Clark Library Government Information Collection serves as a center for government documents. government documents, and is also the a depository for publications of the State of Michigan, government of Canada, United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and European Union. The library's Spatial and Numeric Data Services (SAND) is housed at the Clark Library and on North Campus at SAND North in the Spatial Analysis Lab (room 2207) of the Art and Architecture Building. SAND assists in research, and "locates, acquires, and converts numeric and spatial data sets, especially social science data sets.

Specialized Collections

The University of Michigan Library boasts a number of specialized collections, catering to diverse research interests:

History of astronomy and mathematics: Includes hundreds of pre-1800 publications, including works by Copernicus, Kepler, and Euclid. The Library owns an original Galileo manuscript, a gift of Tracy W.
Early manuscripts: Includes over 250 medieval and Renaissance volumes, as well as individual leaves, many of religious topics. Among the most notable is a collection of 20 parchment leaves containing the works of Shenoute of Atripe.
Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive: This collection originated with the donation of the personal culinary history collection of Janice Bluestein Longone and her husband, Chemistry Professor Emeritus, Daniel T. Longone. It "brings together a diverse body of materials on the American culinary experience. Holdings cover the production, promotion, preparation, presentation, consumption, and appreciation of food and drink in America.
Joseph A. Worcester Philippine History Collection: This collection includes a variety of published works, manuscripts, and photographs on the history of the Philippines. The core of the collection is the extensive collection of material donated by Dean Conant Worcester to the university (his alma mater) in 1914.
Near East Division: Focuses on North Africa, Southwest Asia, Asia Minor, and Central Asia. As of 2013 the division had 597,507 monograph titles and 1,457 current serial titles.
Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Division: Focuses on Eastern Europe, Mongolia, modern Greece, and Russia and the post-Soviet states, including Transcaucasia and Central Asia. Notable holdings of the collection include: "Russian revolutionary movements, Russian and East European dissident writings, modern Armenian history and literature, rare books and archives focusing on the Silver Age of Russian literature, Southeast European travel literature, and serial publications of the East European academies." The division has some 600,000 items, including some 427,800 monographs, 3,900 current serials in vernacular languages; 405,000 titles in Western languages, and 16,500 non-print media items, including microform and electronic resources.
The Fine Arts Library: Located on the second floor of Tappan Hall (the History of Art building) serves the History of Art department, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Kelsey Museum of Archeology.
The Museums Library: Located near South Campus in the Research Museums Center.
Taubman Health Sciences Library: One of the largest medical libraries in America with comprehensive collections in all facets of health care and medical research. It also has extensive online collections and is a member of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, a gateway for access to over a thousand medical libraries nationwide. Many rare volumes of significance to the history of medicine have been moved to the Special Collections Research Center, with access by appointment only. These include approximately 6,300 titles dating from 1470 to the early 20th century, consisting primarily of pre-1850 imprints. It includes 82 incunabula, 52 magical medical amulets, as well as medical fugitive sheets, manuscripts, letters, medical cartoons, medical portraits, medical illustrations, and medical artifacts.
The Music Library: Located on the third floor of the Earl V. Moore Music Building.
The Art, Architecture & Engineering Library (AAEL).
Biological Station Library: The only off-campus library in the University of Michigan system. Its collection consists of over 16,000 cataloged volumes and more than 50 paper journals. It specializes in limnology, ornithology, ecology, systematics, taxonomy, and natural history.

Affiliated Libraries

There are also several collections that are affiliated with the university, but are not part of the University Library system. Two historical libraries are the Bentley Historical Library and the William L. Clements Library. Other libraries include the Law School Library, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, the Ronald and Deborah Freedman Library of the Population Studies Center, and the Transportation Research Institute Library. The last library is one of the world's most extensive collections of literature on traffic safety.

Michigan Publishing

Michigan Publishing operates several print-on-demand programs. The University of Michigan Faculty Reprints (FRS) returns out-of-print books written by university faculty back into circulation on an openly accessible and affordable basis, both online and in print.

The Scholarly Publishing Office (SPO) was a unit of the University of Michigan Library devoted to developing innovative and economically sustainable publishing and distribution models for scholarly discourse. Its staff, services, and imprints are now part of Michigan Publishing.

Created in 2001, the Scholarly Publishing Office provided a suite of publishing services to scholars at U-M and beyond, in order to provide alternatives to commercial academic publishing. In addition to developing cost-effective methods of publication, SPO also helped scholars increase access to their work by making it openly available online, within a trusted and durable digital library environment. Library-based publishing services such as those offered by the Scholarly Publishing Office contribute to a more robust, efficient, and diverse system of scholarly communication.

SPO was unique among publishers because of its affiliation with a major university library. Historically, libraries have defined their mission according to the rubrics of collecting, preserving, cataloging, and distributing the fruits of scholarly inquiry. For many years this broadly conceived mission has sufficed; today, the economics of the publishing world have created a situation in which the status quo is impossible to maintain. Library budgets for public universities like the U-M are either cut or stagnant, while the costs of publishing in print form continue to rise. Publishing conglomerates drive subscription rates up, while libraries struggle-and in many case fail-to keep up. Smaller academic publishing houses do not generate sufficient revenue to support themselves, and their institutional subsidies have been slashed.

Starting with Philosopher's Imprint, a peer-reviewed journal produced by the University of Michigan Department of Philosophy, SPO published over a dozen journals and provided for-fee hosting for non-profit academic organizations' subscription products. For example, SPO hosted the American Council of Learned Society's ACLS Humanities Ebook Archived 2016-12-21 at the Wayback Machine (now hosted by Michigan Publishing) and the Law Library Microfilm Consortium's LLMC-Digital, a database of legal research materials. SPO began a collaboration with the University of Michigan Press, called the Michigan Digital Publishing Initiative, to explore the possibilities of new publishing partnerships between libraries and traditional, print-based academic presses. SPO actively pursued new and promising partnerships and publication opportunities. For example, it released the online publication of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (BASP), in partnership with the University of Michigan Library's Papyrology Collection.

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