Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal April 2007 Volume 5(2)

Library buildings

Evolution at Edinburgh

The aims of Edinburgh College of Art’s new development reflect what can be seen as the emerging consensus on the library’s place in the provision of learning resources in higher education: to create an environment offering a variety of types of learning space; to bring together printed, digital and visual information resources on the same desktop; to make use of ubiquitous IT provision via wireless networking; and to build links and share resources with other service areas.

The particular circumstances in which the College library service has found itself – of consolidating two existing libraries into one unit, and of working to the tight timetable dictated by the programme of acquisition of new buildings and disposal of old ones – has meant this has turned out to be a challenging as well as an exciting project.

Over the last few years Edinburgh College of Art has developed an estates strategy to concentrate activities on its central campus in Lauriston Place, around the original College building, which celebrates its centenary this year. This strategy led, in early 2006, to the acquisition of Evolution House, the award-winning office development at the corner of Lady Lawson Street and the West Port, adjacent to the Lauriston Place campus.

From the beginning, a substantial part of the space available at Evolution House was earmarked for the creation of a single College Library from the two existing branches at Lauriston Place and the Grassmarket. This fragmentation of resources has historically been a major weakness in the College’s library provision, and redevelopment on a single site has long been an aspiration – not just for efficiency’s sake, but to encourage interdisciplinary thinking and the browsing and connection-making which is so important for the visual arts and design.

At the same time the estates strategy had embraced the concept of the Learning Zone: an environment for learning activities and resources with the new library at its core, but including – in its Evolution House implementation – further informal study areas, a café, a computer workshop and teaching spaces. The Learning Zone will be wireless networked throughout with an IT helpdesk located beside the library service desk, from which laptops will be issued for use anywhere in the building.

The College’s acquisition of Evolution House required planning for a substantial change of use of a building designed as a series of office spaces to one housing a whole range of educational activities – including studio and seminar work as well as provision for learning resources – in addition to the College administration and office functions. Space was allocated to the library over three floors, and a good deal of thought has had to be given to creating a logical and coherent environment, with a well-defined perimeter; and to resolving security and access considerations.

Library staff have been fortunate to work with a team from the architects Reiach & Hall, the original designers of the building. The process began with the basic planning of the library spaces: the ground floor was earmarked for the book collection; the first floor was conceived as the main entrance and service level, but also housing the library’s periodicals and audiovisual collections; while the second floor study area will articulate with further informal study spaces and with the IT workshop and seminar rooms. Attention was then given to the detailed layout of the areas: from the service desk and staff workrooms to the shelving runs for books and periodicals, and the variety of study spaces required throughout. Some of the furniture and fittings were designed from scratch. The use of black glass-fronted units for the service desk and photocopying enclosures gives a coordinated look echoed throughout the building; while the purpose-built pole-mounted Opac terminals provide an attractive and practical solution to catalogue access.

The timetable for the actual move into this new accommodation was set by the acquisition and commissioning of Evolution House, and activity turned out to be hectic at times. Planning could only get under way when the purchase of the new building was completed in March 2006. The Grassmarket Library closed to users in June, although an online order system allowed retrieval of material over the summer. The first part of the move proper involved consolidation of the open-shelf book stock of both libraries – a total of 65,000 volumes – in its new home on the ground floor of Evolution House. This was carried out in September, just in time for the beginning of the College’s new session, although it prefaced more than a term of further split-site working, with books now at Evolution House, and audiovisual and journal collections at Lauriston Place. While this arrangement maintained services, and was only temporary, it put considerable strain on library staff and resources. However, it did allow the staff of the two former libraries to work together as a single team for the first time. By February 2007, Phase 2 was put in place – bringing the remaining collections and staff accommodation down to Evolution House and so creating the single College library. By March, only a year from the start of the process, users could finally see the library emerging in the form in which it was designed.

The new library represents a major enhancement in services to the College community and a significant addition to Edinburgh’s art library facilities. At the same time, this is the beginning rather than the end of the process. How the new library spaces are used and the development of the Learning Zone concept itself will point out ways in which the facilities and services can be further tailored to meet the needs of the library’s users. The continuing evolution of the Evolution House library, in fact. IS

Wilson Smith is Principal Librarian, Edinburgh College of Art Library

Information Scotland Vol. 5(2) April 2007

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