A closed stack library contains books and other items that are not available for viewing or browsing by the general public. Many important libraries close their stacks of books to the public, limiting retrieval to professional library staff only (policies on who may use the collections varies). Most private, larger public, and university/academic/research libraries who have open stacks also have special collections that are closed. Reasons for having closed stacks vary, and include preventing theft, vandalism, and minimizing reshelving errors.
Examples Académie Nationale de Médecine in Paris, France Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The library contains rare books and original manuscripts. in Paris, France Boston Athenaeum Boston Athenaeum's Research Appointment Information for the Special Collections Reading Room British Library - most items in London and all items at Boston Spa in Yorkshire Deering Library at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois Fales Library on the third floor of the New York University Bobst Library in New York City. 200,000 volumes. Free Library of Philadelphia Frick Art Reference Library in New York City. 285,000 books. 80,000 auction catalogs. Frick Library collection reference. Frick Library reference to noncirculating materials Leiden University Library in Leiden The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Reference to using the closed stacks at the Library of Congress over 34,000,000 volumes as of 2010.List of libraries in the United States with more than five million volumes Library of Congress circulation listed Research collections of The New York Public Library in New York City New York Public Library's Research Divisions National Library of Australia in Canberra, Australia. 10 million volumes National Library of Australia Facts and Figures National Library of Finland in Helsinki, Finland National Library of Finland mentions its closed stacks on their website Radcliffe Science Library at the University of Oxford, England Ralph Brown Draughon Library at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. The Rare Book & Manuscript Library and the Bookstacks of the Main Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago University of Chicago's Special Collections Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. Original manuscripts. The Special Collections division of the University at Buffalo Libraries in Amherst, NY, which includes the Poetry Collection, Archives, and Rare Books. University at Buffalo's Collections policies page, including closed stacks policy. State of Arizona Research Library, a division of the Secretary of State of Arizona in Phoenix, AZ, which includes the Arizona Collection, the Federal Documents Collection, the Arizona State Government Publications Collection, a map collection, a law collection, and the largest collection of Arizona newspapers in Arizona. State of Arizona Research Library Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives on the tenth floor of the New York University Bobst Library in New York City. 75,000 volumes. Reference to New York University's Tamiment Library using a closed stack system Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta Library Bruce Peel Special Collections Library at the University of Alberta
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