Main Library at the University of Iowa
Location125 W Washington St, Iowa City, IA, USA
Type(s) of establishment
Type Rotating exhibitions
Collection Rare book collections and University archives
Entrance of Main Library at the University of Iowa
Within its overall collection of five million printed volumes, the University of Iowa Libraries holds over 200,000 rare books.
It also houses over 15,000 linear feet of manuscripts, unique archival records, hundreds of thousands of documents, photographs, and ephemeral publications, thousands of non-commercial sound recordings, motion pictures, and videotapes, and, increasingly, records “born digital.”
The Scope
The new state of the art gallery in the University of Iowa Main Library opened in 2016 with its very first exhibition, “ Explorer’s Legacy ”.
Visitors could learn about the story of the discovery of the radiation belts, and the tale of how the earliest data recorded from space was recovered, digitized, and made available for scientists and scholars.
Challenge
The Main Library Exhibition Gallery was looking to acquire multiple museum-quality display cases to display a variety of objects from their collections.
Used for rotating exhibitions, the cases needed to be supplied with opening mechanisms for easy access. They also required a low air exchange rate with humidity control.
Our Solutions
The project was completed in two phases. The first phase was to deliver wall cases that would be permanently installed on the 4 sides of the gallery. Two longer units and several small individual units.
Another large piece would be a see-through case that would allow visitors in the lobby to have a peek inside the gallery.
The second phase was to deliver table cases that could be moved around to accommodate the changing exhibitions.
These cases were supplied with storage for the museum to optimize space. These museum-quality cases will serve them for several years to come.
