The Unquiet Library: Fifty years of Robarts Library

Inside U of T’s Downsview Preservation Facility: High-Density Storage, Shared Stewardship, and Sustainability Kyla Everall, coordinator of the University of Toronto Libraries’ Downsview high-density preservation facility in North Toronto, explains that it stores over four million books in dark, climate-controlled conditions (60°F, 40% humidity) on 35-foot-high shelves, organized by size and arrival order, with staff using lift trucks to retrieve items; users can request physical delivery to U of T campuses or scans, and expansions increased capacity from 2005 to five million in 2015, with a planned expansion next spring to reach eight million. Downsview receives materials from 40+ libraries and is part of the Keep@Downsview partnership with several Canadian universities, allowing shared stewardship without duplication (one copy per item). The episode also recounts how Robarts’ overcrowding prompted Downsview’s creation, addresses early faculty concerns about off-site access, argues it improved access and preservation, and notes sustainability efforts including 1,000 solar panels generating about 80% of annual energy and rainwater collection. More information about the Keep@Downsview partnership: Home | Keep@Downsview For more on Robarts’ history, visit uoft.me/robarts50 and follow @unquietlibrary on Instagram, Blue Sky, and TikTok. 00:00 Episode Opener with Kyla Everall 06:49 Episode Introduction 08:06 The Crisis at Robarts 10:10 Resistance to Downsview 11:15 Why Downsview Actually Improved Access 12:09 Benefits of Downsview 13:01 Downsview becomes the new normal 13:40 Conclusion 14:20 But is Robarts sinking??? The final word on this urban legend. Theme music: Felipe Sarro, Bach-Siloti - Prelude BWV 855a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication Sound credits: 2 08 Br Lib amb 5.wav by ERH -- https://freesound.org/s/51632/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

How Robarts Reached Beyond Its Walls: U of T Libraries and the Internet Archive In this bonus episode of “The Unquiet Library: 50 Years of Robarts Library,” host Jesse Carliner introduces how the University of Toronto Libraries began extending access beyond Robarts through early digitization and a partnership with Brewster Kahle’s Internet Archive. Former chief librarian Carol Moore recounts a 1994 proposal to Canada’s “Group of 10” research universities for mass-digitization funding, early 1990s experiments including print-on-demand for out-of-print books for Japanese universities, and lessons from monitoring public-domain use. She describes evaluating Amazon, then launching a 2004 digitization trial with Internet Archive scanning machines, overcoming logistics challenges, and securing about $10 million via a Microsoft-linked project with multiple libraries, enabling roughly 300,000 U of T texts to be digitized. The effort found space on Robarts’ seventh floor and helped keep the library connected to rapid technological change. For more on Robarts’ history, visit uoft.me/robarts50 and follow @unquietlibrary on Instagram, Blue Sky, and TikTok. 00:00 Moving the collections online 01:06 Early Digital Vision 03:01 Early Experiments and Lessons Learned 04:58 The Surprise Hit 05:42 Enter Brewster Kahle 06:26 The Pilot Project and Growth 07:56 Why the 7th floor of Robarts? 08:36 Reflection 09:42 Conclusion Theme music: Felipe Sarro, Bach-Siloti - Prelude BWV 855a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication Sound credits: 2 08 Br Lib amb 5.wav by ERH -- https://freesound.org/s/51632/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

In this bonus episode of The Unquiet Library: 50 Years of Robarts Library, host Jesse Carliner shares an oral history excerpt in which librarian Sian Meikle recalls the arrival of Wi‑Fi at the John P. Robarts Research Library in the early 2000s. Meikle describes staff concerns about the safety of radio frequency waves, the practical difficulty of providing wireless service in a massive concrete building packed with dense book stacks, and the ongoing, iterative nature of network upgrades managed in partnership with the university’s central IT team. She also notes a pandemic-era lobby bottleneck where hundreds of people using multiple devices required a WiFi hardware swap to handle demand. The episode emphasizes that maintaining access is continuous, often invisible work as devices and expectations evolve. For more on Robarts’ history, visit uoft.me/robarts50 and follow @unquietlibrary on Instagram, Blue Sky, and TikTok. 00:00 Introduction 00:25 Why WiFi Matters 01:16 Early Safety Concerns 01:41 Concrete and Books Block Signals 01:58 Central IT Partnership 02:14 Pandemic Lobby Upgrade 02:52 Rising Demand and Devices 03:19 Conclusion Sound credits: 2 08 Br Lib amb 5.wav by ERH -- https://freesound.org/s/51632/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

The Future of Robarts In the final episode of The Unquiet Library: 50 Years of Robarts Library, host Jesse Carliner looks ahead to what the future holds for the John P. Robarts Research Library at the University of Toronto amid digital access, changing cities, and evolving user needs.Artist Jess Thalmann imagines Robarts as a “glorious futurist ruin,” while urbanist Shawn Micallef argues the building will endure and that libraries are increasingly vital as shared study spaces in a denser Toronto. Professor Siobhan Stevenson highlights the magic of finding books in the stacks and questions how digitization and automation may reshape academic librarianship. Digital humanities pioneer Ian Lancashire warns about long-term digital fragility and advocates keeping print for archival and reading purposes. Librarian Sian Meikle stresses libraries’ role in cultural heritage, digital preservation, and community, while architect Michael McClelland and architectural historian Mary Louise Lobsinger consider Robarts Library as a growing civic hub amid land scarcity. Former chief librarian Carol Moore emphasizes adaptation, preserving artifacts and collections, and challenges around new formats, costs, and intellectual property.For more on Robarts’ history, visit uoft.me/robarts50 and follow @unquietlibrary on Instagram, Blue Sky, and TikTok.00:00 Opening with Jessica Thalman00:51 Episode Introduction and welcome03:05 Shawn Micallef07:13 Siobhan Stevenson08:38 Ian Lancashire13:22 Sian Meikle16:07 Siobhan Stevenson18:25 Michael McClelland21:21 Mary Louise Lobsinger23:23 Carole Moore29:54 ConclusionTheme music: Felipe Sarro, Bach-Siloti - Prelude BWV 855a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication Sound credits: 2 08 Br Lib amb 5.wav by ERH -- https://freesound.org/s/51632/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

First Impressions: What Students Really Think of Robarts Library  In this back-to-school bonus episode of The Unquiet Library, host Jesse Carliner revisits the long-running debate over Robarts Library’s brutalist design—variously described for decades as a fortress, prison, masterpiece, peacock, or turkey—by interviewing incoming University of Toronto students during orientation week about their first impressions. Students comment on the building’s imposing concrete exterior, unusual geometry, and massive scale, often finding it intimidating from the outside but more welcoming, “human,” and full of varied study and social spaces once inside. Several mention campus stories and TikTok lore about what the building is “supposed” to resemble, while others focus on amenities and the role Robarts will play in their academic lives.  To learn more about the architectural history of Robarts Library, including archival photos, visit uoft.me/robarts50  

Bringing the University Online: Robarts Library and the expansion of computing access Host Jesse Carliner explores how Robarts Library helped move the University of Toronto into a digital space as computing, the internet, and digital resources reshaped research and access. In the episode opener digital scholarship librarian Leslie Barnes defines digital humanities and describes AI as lowering barriers to coding while increasing the need for AI literacy and technology education in libraries. Then the episode traces early humanities computing through Ian Lancashire, founder of the Centre for Computing in the Humanities in Robarts, and his efforts to introduce word processing and computational methods to humanities graduate students. Former chief librarian Carole Moore recounts the uneven early distribution of email and computers and the push for broader access. Lari Langford describes building the Information Commons, dial-up starter kits, tokens, and campus-wide support. Retired reference librarian Patricia Bellamy and retired information technology service librarian and director Sian Meikle detail the web’s arrival, early UTL site design, local hosting of Elsevier journals, and Representative Poetry Online’s wide impact.  00:00 Unquiet Library Ep. 9 Opener- Leslie Barnes 02:45 Introduction  03:51 Ian Lancashire-Early Digital Humanities Computing  09:31 Carole Moore-- The library provides email and internet access to U of T  13:33 Lari Langford-- Bringing the university online  19:58 Patricia Bellamy-- Reference Department and the birth of the online library  23:05 Sian Meikle- Early university and library websites  26:59 Ian Lancashire- Representative Poetry Online 32:34 Conclusion  Robarts Library 50th anniversary exhibit: http://uoft.me/robarts50 Key figures and concepts mentioned in this episode:  Adel Sedra - Wikipedia Amrhein, Carl G. - Discover Archives In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus Ian Lancashire | Department of English What is Gopher in Computer? - GeeksforGeeks Graphical user interface - Wikipedia Representative Poetry OnlineTheme music:  Felipe Sarro, Bach-Siloti - Prelude BWV 855a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication  Sound credits: 2 08 Br Lib amb 5.wav by ERH -- https://freesound.org/s/51632/ -- License: Attribution 4.0