I recently visited the University of Warwick to find out about their use of space in the library. Related posts:
Thanks to Robin Green, Antony Brewerton, Helen Curtis, Emma Cragg, Fiona Colligan, Becky Woolley and everyone else who gave their time to chat with me and made me feel welcome.
On arrival at the Library, the signage is clear and welcoming.
It tells me where I am, where everything is and what the basic library rules are.
There are plasma screens at several points in the Library, and they tell me what’s happening today.
I like this notice because it tells me where else I can work, rather than just announcing the disruption.
There is RFID self-issue, and also self-return with a sorting system:
When an item is returned, the machine reads the item’s RFID tag, obtains its shelfmark from the LMS and then directs the item into a book bin according to its destination (e.g. third floor, short loan collection, DVD).
The library has electronic rolling stack, which I had never seen before!
There was an informal seating area with a variety of newspapers for students to browse.
Seeing bookmoves and reclassification projects in progress was a comforting reminder that many other academic libraries spend their summers doing this, not just at my workplace!
I liked the use of spare wall space (especially in stairwells) to display art – it made the building feel thoughtful as well as functional, and reminded me of the pursuit of education as a holistic, lifelong activity as well as for a focused, specific purpose such as a degree course.