HVAC Upgrades, Special Collections Richmond Library, Richmond

About This Project

The Rare Children’s Book Collection is housed in the Davenport Special Collections Room of the Main Library, 101 E. Franklin Street. This collection includes international and American children’s books of historical interest from the 18th century to the 21st century. Specific collections include Rare Children’s Books (RCB), Rare Children’s Series (RCS), Rare Tucker Collection (RTC), and international children’s books.

Significant gifts from Martha Orr Davenport and Judith Josephine Tucker have provided the core of this collection. The collections were also drawn from the Library’s earlier holdings or from gifts.  Due to the rare and historical nature of the books, they are not available for circulation and must be signed for and used under supervision in the Main Library only.

The Special Collections Room was experiencing hot and humid conditions, which was detrimental to the books.  The City of Richmond turned to Brockenbrough for assistance in creating a better environment for the collection.

Brockenbrough provided retro-commissioning services to establish the needed upgrades, HVAC load calculations, specifications for the new equipment and power distribution for the new equipment.

The design called for a new HVAC system independent of the building’s chilled water system dedicated to the Special Collections Area to provide heating, cooling, humidification and dehumidification year-round.  The system has been designed to maintain temperature and humidity conditions outlined by the National Archives and Records Administration and the Northeast Document Conservation Center.