The Kimberlin Library is one of the cornerstones of campus life here at 51Âþ» and it plays a key part in your student experience while you are studying with us.
It was built in 1977 when the university was a vastly different place and was intended to serve a population of just 8,000 students. Today it receives up to 11,000 visits a day and caters to a much larger student population. Our students have also fed back to us via the National Student Survey that the lack of space, poor circulation and disabled access in the Library can be challenging.
We’ve listened to this feedback and in order to create a dynamic and inspiring place for you to study and collaborate, the university plans to create a next-generation library, opening in 2027, which will act as our new academic hub. The plan is to extend, improve and redesign the facilities and the services on offer.
We are now asking staff and students to help co-create this new library experience and we would like your help.
We are launching discussions on the library extension through a consultation with students, staff and our key external stakeholders to find out what it is that people would like to see in their library. The consultation will run for a couple of months, but opportunities to engage with the project will be available on an ongoing basis.
As always, the feedback from our students will be vital in shaping ideas and we will be looking for ways to include current students in every stage of the process. This could include exciting opportunities to input into the design and work with our third-party suppliers as the project comes to life.
That consultation where you can find out more, and there will also be events and roadshows that you can attend to let us know your thoughts
Posted on Tuesday 21 March 2023