UL gets a library - and then some

It's hard to believe, but until last spring the University of Limerick was without a purpose-built library. All it had was a building stuffed with books. Today, however, the Limerick campus boasts a state-of-the-art, £14 million "library and information services building." As the name indicates, it's no traditional library. Students can bring in their laptops and plug in at every work-station in the building.

"The building is wired for technology at every possible point," explains Pat Kelly, director of information systems and services and university librarian. If the university had opted for a traditional, books only library, he says, it would have failed its students.

"Reference books are dying out and journals are becoming electronic," he notes.

However, despite the emphasis on technology, the architect's brief was to design "a human place with plenty of natural light and air."

"We wanted the building to give a sense of community and a sense of personal private space," Kelly says. In order to achieve this, Limerick architect Hugh Murray says he has designed "a semi-solid spine with three fingers on each side projecting out into the landscape, with a thumb at ground level which forms the entrance with a cafe which seats a hundred people."

The three-and-a-half storey building is built on a sloping site. Externally its dark brick and tinted glass facades are designed to blend in with the surrounding campus. Internally, though, it's all glass and light.

A glass staircase, lit from above, links the levels. Between the fingers are two three-storey atriums, with glazed walls and roofs. At ground level there's a casual reading room for newspapers and journals and an information commons which boasts 100 PCs - and where desks are specially designed to enable students to work together. Some of the PCs have access to the Internet.

The library's custom-designed furniture was made in Galway. Tables are of light oak, chairs are black bent plywood with chromium frames. The timber-panelled walls are perforated for acoustic purposes. UL was determined that its library would be a friendly, welcoming place. "Libraries can be very negative places, with strict rules," says Kelly. "We want people to walk in and immediately encounter help and support. The first desk you meet at the entrance is a help desk."

Book issue and return points are located on each floor in order to reduce queues. "It's controversial and slightly risky, but it's working," the librarian says. The 9,170 square-metre library boasts 1,100 networked workstations and some 21 group study rooms. "Students need to work together and collaborate so we have included as many group study rooms as was possible." This private study space, which is pre-bookable, is vital for students engaged in project and team work. The total capacity of the library is 360,000 volumes - it currently holds only 260,000. For the future, there is room on the site for expansion and a volume capacity of 600,000 books.

The library includes accommodation for the 140 staff in the information systems and services division. "We have common access to all forms of information in the library," Kelly notes.

"It's important to have everyone in the one place. The more complex and wide-ranging the sources of information are, the more difficult it is to use them, hence the need for human assistance."

The new library, too, boasts a climatically controlled special collections area, which houses the Norton collection - regarded as one of the largest privately-owned Irish history and topography collections. The Dunraven and Glin papers are shortly to be added to the special collections area.

The full name for this new UL library is "the Lewis L and Loretta Glucksman Library and Information Services Building", after its American benefactors; it was officially opened in May. The transfer of books and staff, however, took place earlier.

"It was very stressful," recalls Lindsay Mitchell, manager of the library and information services. "During the spring break we could only offer minimal services. The staff and students coped fantastically well and the final fit-out of the library took place during occupation."