During the Christmas break we upgraded some of our most popular spaces! This brings more seats, power and a refreshed look and feel whilst harking back to our history.
Level 5
The study area on the East side of the floor adjacent to the Postgraduate workroom has been repainted, refitted with new carpet, new tables with power sockets and extra seating capacity. There are now spaces for 14 more people, leaving room for just a little more growth before we reach our maximum capacity for the floor. Dictionary collections have also been relocated to create extra space to enable future space development.
Level 1
To complete the major refurbishment over Summer which created a new 115 seat study space, vinyl directional signage and wall art have now been added to the area. The art work complements the Terence Conran inspired paint scheme as it draws on the same curtain design. It also incorporates images from the University Archive provided by our Archivist Lizzie Richmond. These showcase some of the history of our building and the changes that have taken place. For example, the efforts of student volunteers to transfer 60,000 books and journals by hand to our new building when it first opened in February 1971.
At the same time we have focused on bringing the rest of the floor up to spec. This includes the main corridor connecting the staircase, right through the horse-shoe shaped study area and the adjacent Level 1 Training Room.
Wall art: Library Plan Level 1, 1967
New lighting, carpeting and paint work have made a massive difference. It is now lighter, brighter and more welcoming environment for study.
New chairs have also been added to the Training Room. We only await installation of new projectors and microphones during Inter-Semester Break. This AV equipment improves on the previous kit and will enable our Library training sessions in this room to be recorded using Panopto lecture capture.
25% extra seats since 2014!
These developments bring us to a grand total of 1,591 seats in the Library. This is an increase of 320 seats (25.2% extra) since 2014 (1,271 seats).
Alongside the various Learning Commons and Graduate Commons (on and off campus) which provide another 704 seats, there has been a significant boost in flexible study spaces in recent years. The total increase of 1,024 informal study spaces shows an 80.5% increase overall.
More power to you
Many of the desks in the Library have power sockets and we have been steadily adding these to those that do not. More than 250 desks have had power added to them in the last 2 years alone. You may also have noticed we have been adding sockets which include USB charging ports.
Finally, you may also have noticed we have re-carpeted the landing spaces on all levels in the North Staircase.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact library staff: library@bath.ac.uk
University of Bath: Library News 