Graduate students are preparing for the impacts that the upcoming closure of Wilson Library for renovations may have on the completion of their academic research and theses.
While the library will close in the spring of 2025, beginning in August, the library’s special collections — any library and archival materials that are rare or unique — will be moved off-site for protection.
Digital collections can be accessed on the library’s catalog, but non-digitized collections will be inaccessible until the project’s completion in 2027.
James Bryan, a Ph.D student in the department of geography and environment, said Wilson Library’s amount of archival materials was a significant part of his decision to attend UNC.
Two months into his first semester, he learned of the library’s construction and had to adjust the timeline for his research, he said.
“I won't be able to go home this summer, like I had originally planned,” Bryan said. “I will have to sprint through the eight to 10 different collections that have been highlighted to me, as fast as possible, and so we'll see how that goes.”
Instead of spending his first year familiarizing himself with the collections sparingly, Bryan said he now has until the end of July to access in-person materials for his research.
He also said that he expects to face competition for access to the collections he wants to engage with, because other graduate students may have also sped up their research timelines due to the construction.
There are five units of special collections at Wilson Library containing university, state or Southern historical materials.