The Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP) facility, located on the Forrestal Campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, is shared by Princeton University, Columbia University, and the New York Public Library (NYPL). While Princeton University delivers and picks up items directly, Columbia University and the NYPL have a contracted courier service with the Clancy-Cullen Moving & Storage Company of the Bronx, New York. Items are sorted by size and placed in open-top trays that are placed on shelves of appropriate size.
The project managers for Modules 1-9 were Robert Rittenhouse and Michael Van Saun of Aegis Property Group in Philadelphia. Modules 1-3 were designed by Daniel Bernstein, Sasaki Associates, Watertown, Massachusetts; Bruce Scott, Russell, Scott, Steedel and Capone, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Edmund P. Klimek and Scot H. Murdoch of KSS Architects LLP, Princeton, New Jersey designed Module 4. The aforementioned S. H. Murdoch of KSS Architects LLP designed Module 5. Murdoch and Danielle Matuch of KSS Architects LLP designed Modules 8 and 9.
Between 2000 and March of 2009, the processing center and five of a projected eleven refrigerated storage modules had been built. Modules 1-4, which collectively held 7,500,000 items, were each 15,000 square feet.
Module 5 was 25,000 square feet. It increased the facility’s total area 85,000 square feet and total capacity to 10,000,000 items.
In a press release dated July 21, 2009, KSS Architects LLP stated, “ReCAP must maintain a temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit and 35 percent relative humidity. KSS and their consultants designed each module with temperature and humidity monitoring systems and load-bearing, maximum foreseeable loss (MFL) walls to withstand extreme conditions such as fire.”
The project includes several sustainable design features. The facility's high cooling demand, which reaches peak loads on sunny days, made it an ideal candidate for a significant sustainable design feature: solar panels. Five thousand solar panels, capable of generating 370 kilowatt-hours, were installed on the roofs of both the new and existing modules.
Scot Murdoch, AIA, KSS principal, managed the project. He said, "Clients such as ReCAP can help offset their energy usage and reduce the need for grid-supplied energy by using photovoltaics."
In the press release, KSS Architects LLP, stated, “A third party, First Solar and PPL Corporation, has been engaged to finance, install and manage the panels. First Solar and PPL then sells the energy to ReCAP at a reduced price. ReCAP is one of the first projects to take advantage of New Jersey Clean Energy Program's Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) Pilot Program, which is changing the way solar energy systems are funded by basing rebates on energy production. In return, users will have lower costs and faster payback times.”
In 2009, KSS Architects LLP described the facility program as “High-density, environmentally-controlled modules to preserve, process, and store rare, sensitive, and low-use library items.” At that time, KSS Architects LLP described the facility features. “Total capacity of 10 million library items, 10 very narrow aisles containing 42, 30-ft high shelving units, super flat floors, state-of-the-art temperature and relative humidity monitoring systems, double maximum forseeable loss (MFL) walls, 5,000 roof-mounted solar panels capable of generating 370 kW.”
The installation of 5,000 solar panels covering 53,000 square feet of roof, capable of generating 370 kilowatt-hours, was completed in April of 2009. Made possible through New Jersey’s SREC program, the investor in the project is Pennsylvania Power & Light.
ReCAP states, “Each time a solar electric system generates 1,000 kwh of electricity, an SREC is issued, which Pennsylvania Power & Light can then sell or trade separately from the power itself. The sale price is market driven. This was the first large solar system installed on a building on Princeton University's campus.”
Through December of 2012, ReCAP had 9,872,126 accessioned items. Columbia University had accessioned 3,815,846 items at ReCAP, Columbia University Law Library had accessioned 287,312 items at ReCAP, the NYPL had accessioned 3,510,766 items at ReCAP, and Princeton University had accessioned 2,258,202 items at ReCAP. In July of 2012, the NYPL accessioned 994 items, retrieved 3,309 items, and re-filed 2,736 items; in August, the NYPL accessioned 819 items, retrieved 3,148 items, re-filed 3,678 items, and withdrew 20 items; and in September, the NYPL accessioned 1,596 items, retrieved 3,011 items, re-filed 2,409 items, and withdrew items.
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