• A new library for the 21st Century
• Learning from the past
• Building for the future
• Respecting the past
• Working together
• More Information

Queen’s University plays a pivotal role in the life of Northern Ireland. Innovation and excellence in learning and research are combined with a mission of serving the local community.

Queen’s is an institution with a world-class academic reputation and tradition. It is a top 20 university for teaching and research power.

By harnessing global excellence for local purpose and advantage, the University underpins the knowledge-based economy that will ensure Northern Ireland’s future prosperity.

Queen’s is embracing the challenges facing Northern Ireland in the 21st Century. To continue to do so, it must be at the leading edge of the information and knowledge revolution.

The building of a new library, more than any other single development, will make the greatest contribution to the University’s search for excellence.

A new Library for the 21st Century will provide Northern Ireland with a world-class resource in which innovative learning and research will flourish.

The history of the Library is almost as long as that of the University. For the first hundred years and more there was only one library building at Queen’s where engineers and students of medicine and philosophy studied together and learned from each other.

However, library services today are based on several sites stretched across a three mile radius.

The present library accommodation is basically unchanged since 1969. Since this time, the number of students has increased from just over 4,300 to more than 24,000 today. Regular shelf-space has remained the same but the number of books, pamphlets and periodicals has doubled.

The Main and Science Libraries, built in the mid 1960s before the Personal Computer became ubiquitous, could not have foreseen the development of innovative electronic information sources in support of learning and research.

The University’s vision is to build a central, high quality library to achieve a seamless range of service and support for users, and an environment that will encourage multi-disciplinary learning and collaboration.

The new Library at Queen’s will promote access to quality. It will provide, in one location, an integrated learning environment for academic staff and students. It will create a world-class resource for Northern Ireland.

The new Library will enhance Learning and Teaching by transforming the support given to students and academic staff.

It will support Research and Development and allow Northern Ireland to attract and retain the best researchers. It will enhance University research activity in all disciplines.

The new Library will enrich the Student Experience at Queen’s by providing a high quality work place that promotes multi-disciplinary learning.

It will enhance the University’s Contribution to the Community by providing even greater access to its resources and a unique collection of books, manuscripts and periodicals, built up over more than 150 years.

The University is building for the future. Queen’s University will provide Northern Ireland with a new Library for the 21st Century.

Queen’s recognises it has a unique responsibility to preserve its historic fabric while at the same time laying firm foundations for the future of the University and Northern Ireland.

As custodian of much of Belfast’s architectural heritage, the University has invested millions in the conservation of its built environment.

The new Library at Queen’s will respect the architectural environment in which it will be located and reflect the architectural concepts and building practices of the era within which it will be built.

It will be central to the life of the University and will provide students, staff and the community with an environment and range of provision that creates a vibrant and cherished facility.

The new Library will demonstrate the University’s commitment to scholarship and quality and will itself become a building of distinction.

Queen’s University is building for the future. A new Library for the 21st Century will provide Northern Ireland with a world-class resource.

The people of Northern Ireland are stakeholders in this exciting project. In developing its vision, the University values the input, comments and support of the community that it serves.

To find out more about the new Library at Queen’s visit Alumni library site, or telephone (028) 9097 5020.

John Gormley
Director of Information Services

Lanyon South
Queen’s University Belfast
Belfast
BT7 1NN
Tel: (028) 9097 5020
Fax: (028) 9097 3072
E-mail: j.gormley@qub.ac.uk
Url: www.qub.ac.uk/is/