Maughan Academic Library

Our very last visit was to the Maughan Academic Library at King’s College. This library serves the Strand Campus of the college, but provides services to all King’s College students. Strand Campus is the only campus that is north of the Thames. It had four different libraries, which were not in a very good state, and did not have room for expansion. The current building was taken over in the late nineties. The building is not owned, because it is on royal land, but is on a long lease. The Queen is the patron of King’s College, so this is fitting. All four libraries were consolidated into this building. It is a cross-disciplinary library, which allows them to have longer hours than when there were four separate libraries. During exam time this year, they were able to stay open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This greatly benefits the students!

The building that the library is located in used to be the public records office. It was built in the 1850s. It was the first building in the country that was built to be fireproof. It is located in the heart of legal London. Due to its important historical significance there are many restrictions on what can and cannot be changed in the building. The building was used for storing paper records, so it was easily converted to a library, but there were few public access areas before, and that had to be changed for student access. We were given some statistics regarding the library. There are over 1,000 reading spots throughout the building, and 330 computer terminals. The library contains 750,000 items. They are particularly strong in war studies and theology materials. Maughan has 1,000 registered visitors. They are open seven days a week, and many items are available electronically if a student cannot make it to the library. We were able to tour the library, and it was interesting to see how they have worked with the restrictions to create an academic library that meets student needs. Information on the Maughan Library can be found here.