The Joseph P. Regenstein Library is the main library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. Holding over 4.4 million volumes, it is one of the largest repositories of books in the world, and is noted for its brutalist architecture.

History

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The library stands on the former grounds of Stagg Field. In 1965, the Joseph Regenstein Foundation gave $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 the Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill led by senior architect Walter Netsch. 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, and receives high marks from users (The Princeton Review placed it in the top five for college students).

Current plans call for the expansion of the Library's facilities and some consolidation of collections. If they are carried out, the Regenstein Library will become the largest academic library in the world, taking the title from Toronto's Robarts Library.

At 10:00pm on the Sunday night before finals week of Winter Quarter, the University of Chicago track team streaks through the Reg, much to the "delight" of students and the chagrin of the library administration. On the Friday night before Finals Week, students from the Snell-Hitchcock dormitory play a modified version of hide-and-go-seek in the book stacks.

Figures

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• Area: 577,085 gross feet².
• Maximum east-west dimension: 344'.
• Maximum north-south dimension: 411'6".

Sources

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• http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/reg/using/building.html

Academic libraries | Brutalist structures | Libraries in Illinois | University of Chicago