Because the effort to solve space shortage in academic libraries has never been successful, the rapid development of digital technology is being considered as a panacea to revolutionize analog libraries and to open a new era for digital libraries. However, this technology is yet to be perfected. Even with the use of digital technology, we are currently still looking for more space to accommodate newly printed materials and at the same time store valuable resources that are seldomly used. In 1985, Harvard adopted the industrial high-density shelving system into their library. No other retrieving system has proven to be more successful as the Harvard model. Presently, more than 50 colleges have built over 70 high-density library storage facilities. Rice University Library Service Center (RLSC) can be examined as an example of the Harvard-model. This paper will focus on assessing the operating system and architectural requirements of the RLSC which may allow for a more efficient, economical, and fundamental resolution to the library space shortage problem.