The Boole Postgraduate Research Library at University College Cork in Ireland has received a “High Commendation” from the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) in the Society’s 2010 Library Design Awards, announced earlier this month.

The citation reads, in part, “This… extraordinary environment work[s] well for its audience. The building is linked to its environment and to the rest of the campus through the clever use of materials. The atrium has a wonderful sense of light, making an impressive entrance to the building. There is a strong ...[more]

One of Northern Ireland’s newest landmark buildings – the McClay Library at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland – was officially opened today by one of the University’s most famous alumni, Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney.

Speaking at the event, Dr Heaney lauded the new library, saying, calling it “a lightship for scholarship…” He went on to comment on how the library represents the role of technology in transforming how students learn.

Illuminated by a multi-story open atrium, the 196,000 square foot building accommodates 2,000 reader places and 1.2 million volumes. ...[more]

The Frank P Doyle Library at Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, California, was one of 27 public and academic libraries nationwide to be included in the April 2007 issue of American Libraries magazine.

The American Library Association publication’s annual Design Showcase highlighted the host of environmental features which are incorporated seamlessly in the Doyle Library’s traditional design. These include the library’s use of a 58-kw photovoltaic array and a system of thermal energy storage units.

The 141,000 s.f. library was the work of design partners TLCD Architecture of California, which oversaw the project’s sustainable design elements, and Shepley Bulfinch, which brought its expertise in library planning and programming to the project. ...[more]

Shepley Bulfinch will be designing a new library for Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, Florida, as a “locus for learning” for the design school’s creative community.

The new library is a milestone project for Ringling, which has expanded significantly in recent years, and will be the first building executed as part of the College’s campus master plan. The 50,000 square foot library, which will be located on a new site on campus, will quadruple the space of the present 12,000 square foot Kimbrough Library, which opened in 1980.

The design team is ...[more]

The innovative design of the law library at Marquette Law School is the subject of “A library without borders,” a feature in the May 2011 issue of the AALL Spectrum, the monthly publication of the American Association of Law Libraries. The design of the library, which is integrated across the four floors of the law school, reflects Marquette’s commitment to a welcoming environment for scholarship.

Eckstein Hall, which houses the law library, opened in September 2010. Authors Julia Jaet and Patricia Cervenka are the law libary’s reference/administrative services librarian ...[more]