Library Service Center

The building is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except for Georgia Tech observed holidays. Users planning a visit are asked to e-mail lsc@library.gatech.edu or call 404-727-1400 to ensure staff will be available to address concerns. 

Parking at the center is free during business hours. The LSC is located on Emory University’s Briarcliff Property, 1260 Briarcliff Road in Atlanta.

The ultimate goal of this partnership is to create a seamless collection with Emory Library resources available to Georgia Tech students, faculty, staff, and vice versa. Details regarding the LSC are still being developed, but the emphasis will be to provide the best possible service and access to these materials with a focus on user needs.

What is happening to the books that were in the Georgia Tech library?
Georgia Tech, in partnership with Emory University, built and operates a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled service facility known as the Library Service Center. About 95 percent of Georgia Tech’s physical collection is stored in the building.

What is a Library Service Center?
It is a new way of thinking about the library’s mission of preservation and collection of scholarship. The materials in the Library Service Center will be stored at 55 degrees and 30 percent humidity, providing optimal, long-term preservation and retention for print and microform collections. Under these conditions, the books, papers and documents will be preserved for more than 250 years.

When will it open?
The building is now open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except for Georgia Tech observed holidays. Parking at the center is free during business hours.

Why is the Library Service Center needed?
The center fulfills several vital functions for both institutions.  

Use of the print collection has declined dramatically over the past decade as scholarship becomes increasingly available online. Use of the library space has more than doubled over the last 12 years. Relocating the collection allows for a reconfiguration of library space to serve the Georgia Tech campus.

The Library Service Center improves access to the shared print collection. Currently, you may visit Emory with a Buzzcard to check out books from their collection. The Library Service Center improves that model by providing electronic or campus delivery -- sometimes straight to a faculty member’s office.  

How will I use the Library Service Center?
You can request items through the library catalog or through our Document Delivery Service known as LENDS. Articles and chapters will be digitized and made available in electronic format as permitted by copyright. Book requests will be delivered to campus twice a day.  

Faculty can continue and graduate students will soon be able to have books delivered to their department via LENDS.  

You can also visit the Library Service Center and view books in the reading room.  

I like to browse the stacks. How will this be possible in the service center?
Items in the Library Service Center are stored by size on 32-foot high-shelves, so browsing is not possible in the collection.

Librarians are currently working on a virtual browsing solution. It’s still in the planning stages, but will offer a similar, serendipitous experience to finding a valuable new book accidentally.  

Virtual browsing will also let you see books that have never been on the shelf at Georgia Tech, including books from Emory’s collection and our eBook collections (including millions of volumes that have been digitized in HathiTrust).

Who can use the Library Service Center?
Students, faculty, and staff from both Emory and Georgia Tech are able to use the center. Users planning a visit are asked to e-mail lsc@library.gatech.edu or call 404-727-1400 to ensure staff will be available to address concerns.

Where is the Library Service Center?
The Library Service Center is located on Emory University’s Briarcliff Property, 1260 Briarcliff Road in Atlanta.