Update from Kingston University

Summer 2010 building project at Penrhyn Road LRC

During the summer of 2010 a major building project will take place at our Penrhyn Road campus, which will allow us to make significant improvements to the entrance and ground floor of the Penrhyn Road LRC:

• New entrance and reception area with improved circulation routes through the ground floor

• Redesigned Help desk to reflect changing support needs of students

• Staffed Learning café

• Increased compact storage for books and journals

• New and larger archive store which will bring us closer to the standards set out in BS5454 Recommendations for the Storage and Exhibition of Archival Documents

• New archive reading room and seminar room with improved facilities for visitors

The building works begins in mid-June and will continue through the summer. The LRC will remain fully open during this time using an alternative entrance although the archives will be unavailable from mid-May until October.

Sue Robertson
Customer Services Manager

Knights Park LRC Project scheduled for Summer 2011

For many years the Learning Resources Centre on Kingston’s Knights Park campus has been tucked away in a corner of the first floor at one end of the main building.  In summer 2011, as part of a major redevelopment of the Knights Park site, the LRC will be moving to the ground floor, close to the new campus Reception, Art Shop and Gallery.  The primary aim behind the move of the LRC is to create an interdisciplinary learning zone at the heart of the building, as part of this Research and Enterprise staff and PhD students will have a base within the LRC envelope.

At the centre of the LRC will be an atrium with a glass roof over the central helpdesk and group study and computing areas.  There will be more study spaces with improved zoning between silent, quiet and group study areas. Disabled students will benefit from improved layout and the provision of an Access Technology Room (ATR). Computing and reprographics facilities will also be upgraded and will include a campus print shop. The collections will be held on a mix of static and compact rolling shelving and will be co-located with quiet study desks and close to the self-service machines. The Special Collection will be a feature of a new silent study reading room.

The project architects are Pascall + Watson.

Nicola Salliss
Information Specialist Art Design and Architecture 

Roehampton Vale LRC

The newly refurbished LRC opened at the end of September 2009, incorporating a Learning Café and joint reception area at the entrance.

The statistics show what was immediately apparent to all, namely that the new LRC is very popular!  Gate counts have almost doubled and peak headcounts show that the busiest times in the LRC mean it is at full capacity for seating.

RV has never before had a seminar room and the new ones have proved very popular. They took 328 bookings during the Autumn Term, compared to 150 bookings in the same period at our Knights Park campus.   The introduction of the Learning Café and improved access to computers and specialist software has also been a big improvement for the students using the Roehampton Vale campus.

An official launch of the LRC, due to be named the Sir Sydney Camm Centre, is to take place on Thursday 25th March.

Rowan Williamson
LRC Manager
Bill Downey
Information Specialist Engineering