From Stronghold to Threshold: a new Library for the University of Aberdeen

16 June 2011

Chris BanksUniversity Librarian & Director

Library, Special Collections and Museums

“Good library buildings are success stories in which architects, librarians and planners work together to create happy endings that benefit users

for decades”

Librarian, City University, New York

• A flagship new library which will– Provide a purpose-designed environment for 21st

century learning and study– Provide a Home for our precious special collections

and archives– Maximise the research potential of the collections– Open up the collections to a much broader public

The Sixth Century campaign: investment in infrastructure

• Project aims

– The best achievable study and research facilities for staff and students

– Proper discharge of our custodial responsibilities for our rare book and archival collections

– Opening up the collections to a wider public

– Transformation of the western side of the University

Key Objectives

Danish firm, schmidt hammer lassen (shl) won the international competition to design the building

They have a strong record of designing libraries and other cultural buildings

Architects

Flexible facilities for multiple audiences

• Flexible spaces for seminars• Quiet and silent spaces• Spaces for collaborative

work• Technology rich with wired

and wireless facilities• Public exhibition gallery• Purpose-built education and

learning facilities• Spaces for academic, public

and corporate seminars and events

Opportunities

• Integration of library facilities in one building will facilitate integrated exploitation of the collections

• Inclusion of a dedicated exhibition space will facilitate:– Interpretation of the

collections– Showcasing the

University’s treasures (Library, Archive and Museum)

– Events for a broad range of audiences based around the collections and the exhibitions

Transformation of space from this:

To this:

The concept

• Emphasis on study space and activity

• Varied study spaces• Flexibility• Public space• Sustainable• A building of architectural

merit

Key Elements

Responding to feedback

Power

• Students said we didn’t have enough.

• With the exception of a totally silent reading rooms on floors 4-6 we’ve powered up all desks!

• Students said there weren’t enough.

• There are now four times as many in the new University Library

Computers

Finding Books

• The footprint of QML and the fact that book sequences were split resulted in much dissatisfaction amongst students

• We’ve integrated all the various scattered sequences of books into a single numerical sequence which runs from 0xx on floor 7 to 9xx on the third floor.

• we’ve had many comments about the difficulty of locating journals – they were scattered amongst the book collections

• In the new library all journals can be found on the second floor

Using print journals

Collaborative working

• Students said that there weren’t suitable facilities for this.

• We’ve created 16 Co-Labs on floors 3-6. In these spaces up to 7 students can work together on presentations and the spaces are fitted with computers and wall-mounted plasma screens to facilitate this.

• Students didn’t really like the fact that each book had to be opened up, and the barcode aligned to the red light – they found it fiddly and time consuming.

• No more! Now, simply take a pile of books to one of the new hi tech machines and issue them in a single go without any need to open them up individually.

Self Issue

Book Return

• Students have had 24 hour book return on their request list for a long time.

• It is coming soon – we will be installing a state of the art book returns system which will even include a book sorting machine! 

• Students said it wasn’t open long enough.

• The cafe is now opening at 08:15 and will remain open until 20:00 on most days

Cafe Opening Hours

Public space

Public Space

Design

The Atrium

Environmental considerations

Sustainability

Sustainability

Sustainability

Getting there

Activities

• Cafe Scientifique• Word Festival• Sound Festival• Composition prize• Engagement with

schools groups• Exhibitions (currently

only small exhibitions and dispersed across the campus)

Building on the University’s existing cultural and science engagement strategies

Macdonald’s principles 1

• Functional• Adaptable• Accessible• Varied• Interactive• Conducive• Environmentally Suitable• Safe and secure• Efficient• Suitable for information

technology• …. And ….

Yes Yes Very Yes• To come Very BREEAM Excellent Yes Very Very

1 Macdonald, Andrew, “The Ten Commandments revisited: the qualities of good library space”, Liber Quarterly 16/2 (2006) - http://liber.library.uu.nl/publish/articles/000160/article.pdf

….have “oomph”