The University of Missouri Libraries are pleased to share an update on our project to renovate the Ellis Library West Stacks to provide climate-controlled storage for Special Collections & Archives materials. Completion of this renovation will ensure long-term preservation and care for our most distinctive collections.

To prepare for construction in 2024, MU Libraries are beginning a year-long project to move materials out of the West Stacks to future homes elsewhere in Ellis or the University of Missouri Libraries Depository (UMLD). Faculty are encouraged to speak with their subject librarian for more information.

The movement of materials will continue through May 2024. The Libraries will keep the West Stacks open for as long as possible during this project. Materials shelved offsite in UMLD may be requested for pick-up at a campus library. Scanning of articles and book chapters is available Monday – Friday.

Work on this project is enabled by a prestigious $500,000 Infrastructure and Capacity Building Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The grant provides a 3:1 ratio matching challenge, which the MU Libraries will meet by raising 1.5 million dollars in donor funding. For more information and to donate to the project, contact Matt Gaunt, Director of Advancement, at gauntm@missouri.edu or visit Mizzou Give Direct.

National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.