The £50m McClay Library which opened in 2009 is illuminated by a multi-storey open atrium, has 2,000 reader places and houses 1.2 million volumes. Ground floor facilities include IT training rooms, a Language Centre, Library and Computer support areas and a cafe. The upper storeys house the University’s Special Collections, subject-related enquiry points and a vast range of printed works.
The building was designed by Boston-based architects Shepley Bulfinch, who had previously designed and developed major academic libraries at Yale and Harvard, and who worked in association with RPP, Belfast. The building attracts more than 10,000 users and visitors each day..
In keeping with the University's environmental policy, sustainability was a critical factor in the design and construction of the building, which won a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Sustainability award in 2010.
