Library Buildings around the World

The Library HQ and Clones Library now occupies an area in the town centrally located and earmarked for extensive
redevelopment. It is envisaged that the new library building is at the heart of this redevelopment acting as a civic and
cultural centre for the community. The new building is 1450m² in area, is a landmark building, consistent with the high
quality of new library buildings designed and constructed in recent years throughout the country. Architecturally the
building is contemporary and forward looking, whilst acknowledging the historic context of Clones town.
The building is set in a high quality public square with extensive seating and landscaping, providing an external public focus
and an appropriate and attractive setting. Car parking is available directly in front of the building, with wheelchair access
car parking available immediately in front of the main entrance.
It has been conceived as a very open and accessible building in which the local community can engage, whilst encouraging
the strongest possible links to the new town square. The branch library has been allocated the most prominent, accessible
and visually apparent location within the building, ensuring that is plays to the widest possible audience. The branch
includes a designated Exhibition area, which will play host to a range of activities such as lectures, recitals, workshops,
demonstrations and exhibitions which the library service could not provide before in Clones. There is now a very spacious
Local Studies Research Area, where a researcher has access to the County Library’s extensive local collections and use of
microfilm reader-printers and computers. The inclusion of an Outreach/Activities Room on the ground has already
accommodated a vast programme of summer events for the whole community. Public toilet facilities are provided, including
one fully accessible disabled toilet and baby changing facilities.
Clones library has always been very much part of the local community & a supporter of life long learning but our
involvement was limited due to lack of space and resources. The new library has seen an increase of almost 100% in stock
for borrowing i.e books, music CD’s, DVD’s, CD:Roms, magazines, large print, audio books. The Internet access points, so
vital in a modern library service and indeed in a rural community, increased from 4 to 14 with broadband. The new library
now has a separate Young Adult area, with a wider range of materials available for them to borrow.
The Library HQ key function is the administration of the Library Service for the whole county of Monaghan. It is housed on
the 1st and 2nd floors, where all stock for the county is purchased, processed & dispatched from here, approximately 14,000
items each year. The Schools Library Service and Rural Mobile Library Service are administered from here. The HQ acts
as the centre for a comprehensive annual Outreach plan of events and activities. The County Reserve Stock is housed here,
which consists mainly of books and materials developed over the past 80 years of Monaghan County Library Service’s
existence and includes books no longer available to purchase.
The new library HQ and Clones Library is fully accessible to mobility impaired users, and lift access is available.
The new library is already making a big impact on the local environment, the local economy and the cultural and social
fabric of Clones. The town has a strong sense of community and now the Library can play a bigger part in community
developments. The plaza outside is a new focal point for the people of the town and the area. It is a new, green, meeting
place for the community. As the Roman Statesman and Philosopher Cicero once said ‘If you have a garden and a library,
you have everything you need’.
The ground floor also comprises an exhibition area and an activities room. Library headquarters is housed on the first and
second floors, incorporating staff offices, a meeting room, a book preparation area & the County backstock room.
A local history area is separated from the main branch and houses an extensive local history collection along with 3
microfilm readers. (http://www.librarybuildings.ie)
Library, Civic Offices und Public Square, Athlone – Ireland 2004
Athlone´s multi-award winning 4.200 sqm new Civic Centre, which the office won in an european wide competition, opened
to the public to great acclaim in October 2004.
The Aidan Heavey Library is located in the Athlone Civic Centre building. The 4,200m² Civic Centre forms the focal point
of the regeneration of Athlone town centre. The library itself is 1050m2
The main library is located on the ground floor to the south, off the main foyer, in the left wing. Due to the sloping nature of
the site, the children's library is located on the lower ground floor to the north. The main library space is double-height
volume. A top-lit public entrance foyer provides access to library (and all other elements of the building). The building has a
roof terrace.
The building displays an integrated approach to energy efficiency and sustainability. Natural ventilation and daylighting are
provided through lightwells and rooflights. Stone louvres to the south provide solar shading during summer.
The building faces the 19th century St Mary's church and associated Jacobean stone tower, situated across the square.
Remnants of the 17th century town wall have been incorporated into the adjacent public square. The area in front of the
building is landscaped in white concrete paving slabs dressed in local sandstone, with teak-topped concrete benching.
(http://www.librarybuildings.ie)
Whright & Whright Architects LLP, London – UK
http//:www.whrightandwhright.co.u.
Libraries:
King Edward VI School, Stratford-on-Avon - UK in design
King Edward VI School in Stratford-on-Avon is a boy´s secondary grammar school. Shakespeare was a former pupil and boy´s are
still taught in his classroom within the 15 th century Guildhall. The Commission followed a compertition to prepare a masterplan of
the school site and design a new library. This is to be a landmark building on the edge of the school site overlooking the gardens
opposite. It is the school´s intention, subject to receiving HLF funding, to restore the school´s historic buildings, and open the
Guildhall to the public part-time. The school was recently designated a Humainties Special Status School, and as a design a new
drama studio, for the next generation of Stratford-on-Avon´s playwhrights and actors. (Whright)
Magdalen College, Library, Oxford – UK under construction 2013
Wright & Wright Architects is adding to the historic estate of Oxford University’s Magdalen College with an extension and
reworking of the grade II* listed New Library.
The library was originally a single hall school designed by JC Buckler in 1851, and was extensively redesigned in 1930 by Giles
Gilbert Scott, who converted it into a library with space for 12 readers and a librarian.
The college now requires room for 120 readers in various study settings plus additional meeting, storage and staff facilities. Wright
& Wright’s task was to meet these needs with a clearly contemporary intervention while respecting the existing architecture. While
the library requires 3,000 linear metres of book space, half of this will be on mobile oak storage in preparation for a less book-based
future.
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