My visit to Oxford Brookes new library

So yesterday, as part of the Oxford CILIP qualification group, I finally found the time to visit Oxford Brookes new library. Our guide was Laura Pilsel, Customer Services Team Leader.

It's very modern, very big, a lot of different spaces: silent zones, meeting rooms, spaces with study booths.

This space is not, strictly speaking, part of the library, but it is the view you get from the higher levels of the library!

open study

This is one open study "pod" with, of course facilities, for using computers etc...

I really liked the indications given on each floor, very simple and visual.

The posters also very clear, indicate the zones well, for example the quiet zones.

I had a quick look at the catalogue and was very impressed. To have the cover picture and a description is a definite plus compared to our catalogue. In all a pleasant tour in a very modern library. I am just puzzled by one thing... where are most of the books? Are the books presented only the most commonly used books, and the reserve is containing the rest? (an equivalent to Google when only the most popular sites are shown?).To me, it's important to "get lost" in the library, and through the magic of Dewey (the classification used at Brookes. Great for this library, not so great for mine) to discover new or old stuff. But overall a beautiful library where you can see students and teaching staff happy. As for library staff, I don't know, one says the windows are hideous (true not as beautiful as the Institut du Monde Arabe but it's probably a budget question and at least it is saving energy), and indeed, the sorting room is small and stuffy. Apart from that, I found the library staff offices big, full of natural light. A good place to work, I would think!