December 2015: Library Redevelopment
December 2015: Library Redevelopment
December 2015: Library Redevelopment
December 2015
Library Redevelopment
The plans for the further redevelopment of the Main Library, and the creation of a
new Library facility at Guardbridge, have passed the internal University planning
stages, and we shall be going out to tender for a contractor in the new year. Work
is due to start by mid-2016, and should be complete by the autumn of 2017. This will
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result in an improved Main Library offer to our users, with an additional 375 study seats
(mostly on the presently non-public Level 1), increased toilet provision and an enlarged
caf. The Librarys portion of the new Guardbridge building, which we will be sharing with
several other professional service Units, will give us fully climate-controlled storage for
our special collections, a browsable store for our general collections, a second special
collections reading room, a conservation studio and staff office accommodation.
This development continues the logic of turning over the maximum space possible in the
Main Library to the vital services of study space and resource provision, and using both
physical and virtual connectivity to bring staff and materials to our users as required.
This keeps the Librarys in-town footprint small, but hopefully more attractive than ever.
At the present time, we find we sometimes have over 7,000 user visits in a day. This can
mean that, at our busiest times as the doughnut graphic in the Main Library entrance
shows we can have over 900 users in the building. Undoubtedly, we will be recording
occupancy levels of over a thousand in a few years time - a considerable achievement
for a building whose normal average usage when first built would have been two to three
hundred!
- John MacColl
University Librarian & Director of Library Services
Teaching in semester 2? If you plan to use short loan/scanned readings or if you would
like to have an online reading list set up for your module, please let the Library know by
Tuesday 5 January.
Please check our guide for details on how to notify us of your reading requirements. For
more information or to send us your reading lists, please email [email protected].
- Colin Bovaird
Academic Liaison
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The Librarys Academic Liaison Team were out in force during semester 1! We
were invited along to more classes than weve been to previously, telling students
about the Library services and facilities, and demonstrating a widerange of
resources. If youd like your students to be more aware of the range of resources we
have to support their studies, you can invite us along to a class, or arrange a session.
Just email [email protected] if youre interested and well be happy to discuss
your needs.
- Sharon Nangle
Academic Liaison
Poems Aloud!
The Main Library will once again feature as a venue in next year's StAnza Poetry
Festival, running the student poetry recitation competition Poems Aloud! for the third
year. The event will take place on the afternoon of Friday 4 March, please check the
StAnza Poetry webpages for details. A change to the approach this year will see
performers choosing a poem to recite from a set drawn from the published works of
poets taking part in the Festival, or from its themes. We shall also be running a poetryinspired exhibition based on some of our Special Collections material.
The event has been very successful over the past two years. Look out for publicity and
details on how to enter at the end of January!
A rare find
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Carina, an intern from Cologne currently working with our Special Collections in
the Rare Books team cataloguing the Mackay Collection, uncovered a copy of Viviani's
Enodatio earlier this month, which the author presented to Edmond Halley!
Vincenzo Viviani was a disciple of Galileo and conducted mathematical theorems and
physics experiments throughout his life. Edmond Halley, Astronomer Royal, is best
known for predicting the orbit of the eponymous Halley's Comet.
This book, which bears the pressmarks from Halleys personal library, is a lovely witness
to the international intellectual networks of scientists in the late 17th century.
- Daryl Green
Special Collections
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