Today I went with colleagues to visit this brand new library. Nobody ever refers to that eponymous library by it's full name: they refer to it either as the MRC or the LMB and for several months after arriving at this part of the world I thought that these were two separate places. Of course, the Medical Research Council do have other sites across Britain.
The new Cambridge site was recently opened by the Queen, so we were in good company. The building is rather spectacular: built in the marshes behind Addenbrookes (only one of a number of new developments there,) the glass turrets look like sails and are particularly spectacular in the early morning where they throw angular shadows.
The new library is superior to its former incarnation in many ways; like the bridge of a ship the windows have an uninterrupted view in three directions across meadows and city turrets. Of course, the drawback is that everyone in all those meadows and city buildings can now see a huge building rising from the mist.
The new Cambridge site was recently opened by the Queen, so we were in good company. The building is rather spectacular: built in the marshes behind Addenbrookes (only one of a number of new developments there,) the glass turrets look like sails and are particularly spectacular in the early morning where they throw angular shadows.
The new library is superior to its former incarnation in many ways; like the bridge of a ship the windows have an uninterrupted view in three directions across meadows and city turrets. Of course, the drawback is that everyone in all those meadows and city buildings can now see a huge building rising from the mist.
The librarians had managed the move carefully. They were anxious not to move more than necessary
so they carried out a large scale weeding process several months before the
move. A list of all books more than ten years old was forwarded to the academic
librarian to work through, and those books which were not needed were withdrawn
and sold to a specialist second hand book dealer. Signed or donated books were
retained.
Before the move the collection had been disparate: there was
research material in cupboards in other parts of the building, and some
periodicals were stored in a different library. The move allowed all relevant material
to be gathered in one place. During the move some jobs (such as the gathering of annual
statistics or dealing with complex open access issues) got put on hold, which
meant some catching up once the library opened.
The furniture included white table tops which were strongly
recommended by the architect: they did add light and break up the large rooms.
The new library was well placed at the heart of the building and had stunning
views across the meadows in three directions.
Despite being part of such a ‘high tech,’ state of the art
organisation we were very surprised to see that the library still operated on the
old Browne card system. Apparently the building is very secure due to security
on the door, and the community is a small one so readers are allowed to access
the library at any time of day or week, and are trusted to sign books out
themselves. Occasionally a book will go missing but a circular email to all
users usually succeeds in hastening it’s return.
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