With Page/Park Architects, Library, Archives and Museums staff have been undertaking a feasibility study into the future of services and facilities currently provided from our Library Annexe buildings. Under the name of ‘Library2’ (as in, ‘it’s a library too’ or ‘the second library (two)’), staff have been setting out their ideas for what a new on-campus facility would look like.
We held a workshop for colleagues across all areas from IT, to Acquisitions and Metadata, Archives, Museums, and Collections Management on 20th March. The Architects described our resulting ideas as ‘practical and efficient’, despite some imaginative analogies around onions (layers… of access and security), and wedding cakes (tiers… of floors and access).
Below is an image of the charts the three groups presented that day (thank you to Carl Jones, Stuart Lewis and Colin Watt for presenting them to the group).
Since then Page/Park have been interpreting the ideas and drafting out the co-locations and dependencies within an ideal space. They have also come up with an initial design concept, based on an open-book (see below).
The next stages of the study are to establish what such a facility may cost, and to finalise an initial design drawing. The resulting study and it’s recommendations will be presented to the appropriate groups in the University, before we then find out if there is an opportunity to progress further with our ideas.
Laura Macpherson, Acting Head of Collections Development & Management