Editing Widener Library (section)

==Renovation==
[[File:HarvardUniversity WidenerLibrary TabletMontage.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Tablets in vestibule and foyer. "This noble gift to learning comes to us with the shadow of a great sorrow resting upon it", said [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] at the dedica{{shy}}tion. "But with the march of the years{{nbsp}}... the shad{{shy}}ow of grief will pass, while the great memo{{shy}}rial will remain".{{NoteTag
|{{r|ask_inscriptions}}{{r|transcript}}
The quotation "He labored not for himself only{{nbsp}}..." alludes to [[Ecclesiasticus|Ecclesi{{shy}}as{{shy}}ti{{shy}}cus]] 33:17.
}}
]]

A five-year, $97{{nbsp}}million renovation completed in 2004{{r|potier}}
(the first since the building opened){{r|offsite}} added fire suppression and environ{{shy}}men{{shy}}tal control systems, upgraded wiring and communica{{shy}}tions, remodeled various public spaces, and enclosed the light courts to create additional reading rooms{{r|potier}}
(beneath which several levels of new offices and mechanical equipment were hidden).{{r|bigdoings}}

"Claustro{{shy}}pho{{shy}}bia-inducing" elevators were replaced,{{r|gewertz}}
the bottom shelves on the lowest stacks level were removed in recognition of chronic seepage problems,{{r|offsite}}
Widener's "olfactory nostal{{shy}}gia{{nbsp}}... actually the smell of decaying books" was addressed,{{r|goins}}
and unrestricted light and air{{mdashb}}seen as desirable when Widener was built but now considered "public enemies one and two for the long-term safety of old books"{{mdashb}}were brought under control.{{NoteTag
|{{r|potier}}
"Before the renovation, the upper [stacks] floors smelled, in summer, of gently roasted books, while [the lowest floor] year-round offered the [[wikt:sporiferous|sporiferous]] scent usually associated with grottoes and Roman cellars." (Battles){{ran|B|p=180}}
{{paragraph break}}
When Widener was built ventilation for books was emphasized, possibly to prevent mold; thus a slit ran along the base of every row of shelves, allowing air to flow from the floor below. Unfortunately books, papers and objects were prone to fall through these slits,{{r|metcalf1965|p=135}} and "the whole installation might have been regarded as a large collection of chimneys that would help a fire to spread rapidly from floor to floor." The slits were later closed.{{r|metcalf1988|pp=92–93}}
}}

Some changes required that the Widener family grant relief{{r|wilkinson}}
from the terms of Eleanor Widener's gift, which forbade that "structures of any kind [be] erected in the courts around which the [Library] is constructed, but that the same shall be kept open for light and air".{{r|bentinck1976|p=79}}{{ran|B|p=42}}

The need to relocate each of the building's 3.5{{nbsp}}million volumes twice{{mdashb}}first to temporary locations, then to new permanent locations, as work proceeded aisle by aisle{{mdashb}}was turned to advantage, so that by the end of the renova{{shy}}tion related materials in the library's two classifica{{shy}}tion systems (see [[#Parallel classification systems and dual catalogs|§ Parallel classifica{{shy}}tion systems]]) were physically adjacent for the first time;{{r|movement|gewertz}}
the chart showing the floor and wing location, within the stacks, of each subject classifica{{shy}}tion was revised sixty-five times during construction.{{r|potier}}

The project received the 2005 Library Building Award from the [[American Library Association|American Library Associa{{shy}}tion]] and the [[American Institute of Architects]].{{r|ala_aia}}