Bodleian K B Chen China Centre Library Visit

Helen Matthews very kindly wrote up the recent CILIPTV visit to the the Bodleian K B Chen China Centre Library, which appears below- bonus points for being so prompt, especially at this time of year, Helen!:

On 17^th December a group of librarians and information specialists visited the Bodleian K B Chen China Centre Library, located in the grounds of St Hugh’s College (one of the colleges of the University of Oxford). The library is inside the Dickson Poon University of Oxford China Centre Building having moved from the Institute for Chinese Studies. The £21m building was funded by a number of benefactors, most notably the Hong Kong philanthropist, Mr Dickson Poon CBE (from whom the building derives its name), who donated £10m. The library is named after the late Mr K B Chen, recognising the gift from his son, Mr Henry Chen, to the college.

Joshua Seufert, the Chinese Studies Librarian, provided the tour of the library and China Centre Building. The Centre is built on what used to be tennis courts. The library is in the basement of the building but has plenty of natural light pouring in as it looks across a garden area that has been lowered from ground floor level, which the building wraps around. The building caters for those with disabilities with wide doorways for easy access and a lift, which the spiral staircase wraps around. Within the building you find images of the Chinese coin and the fleur de lys, the latter of which forms part of the College’s crest. Doors with the Chinese coin on lead to the China Centre areas whilst the doors with fleur de lys on lead you towards college areas.

The building brings together various people and departments of the University involved with Chinese studies into one place, rather than having them scattered around the city. We went into one of the lecture theatres which seats 100 people but can be split in half for two lectures to take place at the same time with fewer people. Some of the Bodleian Library’s Chinese special collections have been reproduced to display on the walls of the Centre, including the Selden map of China, bringing the library out to the rest of the building.

The library is one of the Bodleian Libraries, which offers benefits like being part of the Printing, Copying and Scanning (PCAS) service and offering the opportunity to order material from the Book Storage Facility in Swindon to the library. In fact, the library has seen an increase in library users including members of St Hugh’s College and St Antony’s College who are ordering material from the Book Storage Facility to the library because of its convenient location to them. There is a room dedicated to this material where library users can collect the material they ordered and read it in the library.

The library has 6 carrels, which can be used by readers for more quiet and private study. With these carrels they can book cabinets in which they can keep personal belongings. As well as space for private study there is a group study room with a projector and speakers for people to use as a meeting place.

The library has a special classification system for its material called Harvard-Yenching devised by Alfred Kaiming Chiu for the Harvard-Yenching Institute. Although the classification system has been phased out, the China Centre Library, and a few other libraries, use and update the classification system. New material, however, is being classified using the Library of Congress.

We were particularly intrigued by the library’s journal display, a case which had a panel for each journal title which was lifted to reveal past issues behind it inside a cubby hole. Before moving into the new library, 50m of journals were disposed of as well as 200m of material that had to be disposed of due to last minute ceiling height reductions, which means a loss of shelf space. Joshua explained that the new library has more space for library users to work at, which the previous library did not, which has meant a slight reduction in shelf space.

The tour was followed by a Q&A session as an opportunity for us to find out further information. The visit to the K B Chen China Centre Library was insightful with an great tour guide. It is excellent that the library has been included in the development of the brand new building and the amalgamation of various departments within the University in order to best provide for students and academics of Chinese studies.

Visiting Oxford Brookes’ new library

This blog post was kindly written by Helen Matthews, Assistant Librarian (Periodicals) Nuffield College Library. She is also responsible for the rather fab photos. You can contact Helen via Twitter @helen_281.

Wednesday 2nd July saw an eager group arrive at Oxford Brookes University’s new library in Headington. The library opened in February 2014 and is located inside the university’s new John Henry building. Taking up 6,500m², the library holds a dominant place on campus. We were led to the library’s large staff room for tea and (delicious) cakes whilst we were given an introduction by Helen Workman (Director of Learning Resources & University Librarian).

We learnt that plans for the new building started as far back as 2007 when architects were appointed. The library’s brief for their place in the new building was:

• to be an inspirational space for study, learning, and research
• for it to be easy for users to access information
• to facilitate improvement of library services
• to be IT enabled
• to be easy to navigate
• to have a range of working spaces
• to have self-service machines

The creation of the new library wasn’t without its issues. Because of neighbours living next door to the campus, the building lost a floor but gained a basement in return. The building was supposed to be ready to open in September 2013 in time for the new academic year but eventually opened in February. Opening in term-time meant that the old library had to be closed on a Friday as material was moved to the new library. Impressively, this was achieved in four days and the new library opened the following Wednesday.

Once we had finished devouring cake, the group was split into two and we were given tours by Jan Haynes (Head of Service Development and Delivery) and Dave Nolan (Head of Buildings Development). The immediate impression was of a large, light, airy, and open space with an atrium, called the Forum, which the library wraps around. Heading up to the fourth floor offers an excellent view of the Forum on the ground floor where there is a café and casual seating area. Here people were working independently and in groups, and using their laptops whilst consuming their purchases from the café.

The library houses 300,000 books, a collection that was weeded before being moved from the old library, and has 1,000 study spaces. There are student presentation rooms and group work spaces where the furniture is moveable to adapt to peoples’ needs. There are also coaching areas for taster sessions, a help zone for one-to-one assistance, training rooms, carrel-type desks for more independent study, a special collections reading room (which is still under construction), and an assistive technology suite. During the planning period, focus groups were held to find out what people wanted from the library space, which included testing furniture, as well as a wider consultation that included everybody in the university.

Although the library is complete (except for the special collections reading room), staff are still reviewing and making amendments. Because the space is so open and (some) of the furniture is moveable, they are able to change the layout of working spaces and adapt them to what people need. Similarly, the different noise zones are monitored and considered for change.

Visiting Oxford Brookes’ new library gave a sense of what a modern library should be. Returning to the library’s brief, they have been successful in creating an inspirational space. The architecture itself lends to this with the suspended lecture theatre and pink windows that bathe corridors in a soft light. The library has excellent facilities that meet the needs of the modern student and makes their experience rewarding. Attention to detail, like the frosted windows with microscopic cellular images, is a subtle touch that makes you feel like you are in a place that has been carefully constructed with the users’ in mind through every step of the building’s creation. Although signage is being revised and working areas monitored with the potential for change, this simply shows how library staff seek to continually improve the users’ experience and meet their requirements.

We were interested to learn that the library is open to anybody with no restrictions on who can walk in and consult its material, which helps to fulfil the library’s aim to provide easy access to information. Head counts reveal that use of the library is increasing, which shows that libraries are able to adapt to the modern world and that people still appreciate them.

This was an excellent trip with informative tour guides and I would encourage people to visit this new library.