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After five years of separation from its collection of 4.5 million items, the State Library of Pennsylvania is back in business -- now all it needs are readers.
In mid-2019, the library -- Pennsylvania's official repository for state historical materials along with a vast general reference collection, some of which dates back hundreds of years -- moved out of its nearly century-old home in Harrisburg's Forum Building as part of a long-awaited renovation.
Much of the collection was able to stay, albeit it was wrapped in plastic or otherwise secured from construction dust. A portion -- over 100,000 books along with the library's microfilm and newspapers -- went to a warehouse in New York, where it was inaccessible.
Library staff moved to offices in the nearby Keystone Building, where they were able to keep some semblance of customer service, fetching books from down the street while construction crews meticulously overhauled the building around them.
"It was hard - we just didn't have access to everything, and then COVID struck," said state librarian Sarah Greene, as the library felt even more disconnected from both the public and its own materials.
But as of Jan. 9, that's over. All of the library's materials have been re-installed in a renovated and restored space that was "well worth" the five-year interregnum, Greene said.
"It's good to be back and fully functional, to have the entire collection on site and be able to help people," Greene told PennLive.
Pennsylvania's state library, which today operates under the Department of Education, dates to 1745 and is still growing its collection -- both general interest items and especially Pennsylvania-specific materials. That collection includes many books and newspapers from Benjamin Franklin himself, dating back to the early 18th century; it also includes even older items, including print materials from the 15th century and a Sumerian tablet dated to approximately 2400 BC.
The Forum Building was constructed from 1926 to 1931 with the library specifically in mind, featuring a central lobby with collection spaces on either end. The steel stacks that house the books are structural elements of the building, with multiple levels of storage in the above-grade reading rooms as well as in the basement areas.
All of this was extensively overhauled during the five-year rehab of the Forum Building, whose total price tag came close to $105 million, according to the state Department of General Services.
This process restored much of the library's original detail. The stacks, for instance, were restored to their original green finish after having been painted beige at some point in decades past. Ceiling art that had become dirty and faded was restored to its original vibrancy, along with refinishing the original mahogany woodwork.
Central heating and air conditioning were also installed, eliminating window cooling units and a temperamental system of hot-water radiators.
"The environmentals are much more conducive to keeping the books in good condition," Greene said.
Many improvements were also made to parts of the facility that the public rarely sees. Space-saving racks and shelves -- which move on a track to allow access between them -- were installed in the lower levels, mainly to house the library's massive archive of Pennsylvania's local newspapers, both in print and microfilm.
In many cases, the state library possesses the last physical copies of local newspapers from rural Pennsylvania that have long since gone extinct. The newspapers provide a crucial resource for people looking for obituaries, police reports and other items that would be entirely lost if not for the rows of yellowing newsprint found in the library's lower levels.
"The world is rapidly moving in a direction where everyone is getting rid of hard copy," Greene said. "In this world that is shifting to digital, how do we make sure we don't lose stuff in the transition?"
This is a crucial role that Greene sees the state library filling. The facility also serves as a federal repository, storing copies of federal register notices and other materials that are critical to maintain, if a bit obscure.
"We're required to keep a lot of stuff so that smaller libraries can get rid of things," Greene said.
This capacity has demonstrable benefits to the functions of the state. For instance, the library keeps physical copies of other states' code books, dating back to the 19th century, many of which are not available in online law references.
Not only are these used by attorneys, but the Pennsylvania State Police regularly refer gun background checks to library staff in situations where a person has an old out-of-state conviction for which it isn't immediately clear if the charge would disqualify them from purchasing a firearm in Pennsylvania.
Despite the automation of the digital age, this type of work requires staff to move around the building, fetching materials. The library has 18 employees -- only about a third of what it had 20 years ago, with major attrition during Pennsylvania's recession-era budget cuts.
"It's just a lot of manpower for all this stuff," Greene said, and she is hopeful the library might be able to gain some positions in future PDE budgets.
The library fields most of its inquiries through email, with much of that volume being requests for information from the library's genealogy system. Given that the library's public spaces were last open before COVID, it's unclear how much foot traffic the facility might get, but Greene wants to bring as many people as possible to a space that hasn't looked this good in 93 years.
"We hope over the next couple years we can work on publicizing it a bit more," she said. "The most common question I get is 'there's a state library?'"