Features and Collections
Gretton outlines the library’s significance to serving a campus community the size of a town, as well as by being a central storage for humankind’s recorded thoughts and inspiration. The library was initially intended for use by graduate students only, but following an illegal student occupation of the building, undergraduate students were also granted access. The library's initial design was for a mechanical book conveyor belt system to allow for faster collection by library staff, who would then send books downstairs for pickup. After Robarts was opened to all students, the conveyor system was discarded, although the tracks used by the conveyor system are still visible above the shelves.
It is also home to the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, the Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library and the Petro Jacyk Resource Centre.
In addition to a rich collection of texts, the library provides 24-hour access to students, staff and faculty during the academic year with the exception of weekends. The university's Accessibility Services are located in the first floor. On August 2010, the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre moved from the first floor of Robarts Library to OCAD University, which is shared with students with disabilities from that college, as well as from nearby Ryerson University and Seneca College. The Internet Archive Canada headquarters are located on the 7th floor.
Read more about this topic: Robarts Library
Famous quotes containing the words features and/or collections:
“Art is the child of Nature; yes,
Her darling child, in whom we trace
The features of the mother’s face,
Her aspect and her attitude.”
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“Most of those who make collections of verse or epigram are like men eating cherries or oysters: they choose out the best at first, and end by eating all.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)