David Stacey’s talk was a follow up to his ‘Changing Spaces’ presentation last year, in which he covered the initial stages of a project at Bath aimed at enhancing the library space. Bath University Central Campus Library is a large space, comprising approximately 1,400 plus seats, with over 500 PCs, catering for more than 20,000 students!
Briefly revisiting last year’s talk, an Independent Learning Environment Project (ILEP) survey and feedback gathered from a student ideas’ competition called Library Spark generated a range of suggestions for David’s team to pursue, such as creating a more inclusive and sustainable space, and one that better optimised productivity. Some progress had already been made towards these goals, such as the introduction of a sensory room, but fast forward to the present and the project has gained significant momentum.
A key factor has been the close and effective liaison with the Architecture and Civil Engineering Placement faculty team, enabling the library to better support the work they do for their students. It was decided to run several Architectural Placements Competitions, such as designing new signage for the library (in the form of floorplans), to help solve wayfinding issues and a lack of awareness of specific spaces that were underutilised. The winning design represented a marked improvement over the original, and I fully expect it to achieve its objectives; the timing of the competition was especially good considering the establishment of new bookable individual meeting rooms, that can be used for interviews for placements and jobs, etc, thus crucially better optimising the library for employability-related processes. A nice set of prizes was presented to the winner.
Another competition involved the creation of designs for a new, relaxing, lounge-style reading space for pleasure reading, called the ‘Library Nook’, with the objective of countering student loneliness, encouraging social interactions and promoting mental well-being. It ran from February 10th to 2nd March 2025 with 4 entries received. The winner adopted a beautiful warm, home-like coffee shop design, making use of moveable furniture so that the space could be used to host associated wellbeing focused events, such as book groups or author events, further enhancing the student experience. When the new space is launched in the autumn, I have no doubts it will achieve all its objectives. I thought this competition was great for involving students in the project in a way that is fun, allows for creative expression, and critically, deepens their personal connection with the library, since the winner’s idea would become physical reality.
Other initiatives included replacing PCs with docking stations and thus satisfying the 70%+ students bringing their own device, and the library being involved in co-teaching commercial awareness to postgraduate placement students.
Unfortunately, some ideas, such as the creation of an outdoor library space called the ‘Library Lawn’, were deemed too expensive to be feasible – highlighting that budgetary and financial limitations remain.
For me the project has highlighted to be just how much the library space can be enhanced through close liaison with faculty. Other academic libraries can take a lot of inspiration from this project.
Review by Jonathan Benedetti | London Metropolitan University
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