Even so, since some faculty members wouldn't be able to browse through all the books and manuscripts in a library, they felt their scholarship might be impaired.

Schneiter, who worked in Yale's library system before coming to Harvard, recalls the displeasure he faced while overseeing that university's book storage facility.

"At Yale I had many conversations with faculty members who, many years later, were angry about the selection of books to fill that storage space. They were still simmering about it 15 years after the library was filled," Schneiter says.

But, administrators say, the depository's speed and accuracy has won over its onetime detractors.

"The Depository was designed for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The fact that the site is at a distance requires us to provide regular and consistent delivery service to the libraries and archives in Cambridge and Boston," Graham says.

Vans leave the depository twice each morning to ensure that books arrive at the client library one business day after they are requested.

A few years ago, the depository installed the FETCHERRS system, which allowed patrons to request materials directly from HOLLIS and eliminated the need to make a separate trip to Widener to fill out a form.

Graham says online library catalogues have become so complete that most browsing now takes place in a single setting, where library patrons are able to access Harvard's collections as a whole--rather than being limited by the holdings of various faculties.

For the Ages

Research libraries, says Barbara Graham, associate director in the university library for administration and programs have a two-fold mission: to serve the research and teaching needs of present and future scholars and students and to act as stewards of the collections for the generations to come.

Among the challenges for fragile or deteriorating materials, she adds, is that research libraries must simultaneously be responsive to the need of scholars and students for access and ensure the ongoing viability of these research resources.

"The depository's climate-controlled environment is a conscious effort to bolster the longevity of the materials stored there while also providing access through delivery service back to the participating library," she says.

Books not stored in controlled environments are often in trouble.

Until the current renovations are completed, Widener Library is one of the worst offenders, library officials say.

"The odor of Widener's deeper recesses, while providing olfactory nostalgia to generations of readers, is actually the smell of decaying books," Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles wrote in his 1999 annual letter to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The depository, on the other hand, was built partly to provide a climate-controlled environment for the better preservation of crumbling books and paper records.