High-tech library is uni's heart and soul

For many staff and students, the Macquarie University Library – still state of the art 11 years after its opening - represents the heart and soul of the university.

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University Librarian Dr Belinda Tiffen is in full agreement. For her, it’s not simply the striking physical presence of the building that places it front and centre: “I think libraries are traditional places of knowledge, both its preservation and creation, and that is at the heart of what universities are about – so it is an intellectual as well as physical centre.”

And students flock to it – in 2019, there were 2.2 million student visits, and 29,000 bookings for group study spaces.

While physical doors were closed during lockdowns, a massive shift to digital, including 24-7 online support services, meant uninterrupted access to the library’s vast resources – each year, there are 1.6 million visits to the library website, about 11 million downloads of e-resources including books, journals and videos, and almost 15 million uses of MultiSearch, the Library’s discovery platform, which provides access to the physical and digital collections.

Cutting edge: The Library's Automatic Storage and Retrieval System, the first of its kind in Australia.

“Digital is so important, and more and more of our clients want us to be available when it is convenient to them, and that is something we are really keen to emphasise for the Macquarie community – via our website users can access our collections, and support is also available to help you find and use information; to develop your information literacy skills,” Tiffen says.

When it opened in 2011, the new building was a profound contrast to the university’s original concrete brutalist-style library. Its sustainability features were an impressive testament to the University’s commitment to green design and construction.

The Automatic Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) in particular – the first of its kind in Australia - has wowed many a guest, housing 80 per cent of the library’s physical collection of 1.2 million books.

At the centre: University Librarian Belinda Tiffen ... "Libraries are traditional places of knowledge, and that is at the heart of what universities are about."

By condensing the collection, the four-storey-high ASRS reduced the building’s footprint by more than 11,000 square metres, saving approximately a million kilowatt hours of energy per year.

Cutting-edge technology and eco-friendliness aside, the library as a physical space, with seats for 2200 people at a time, remains a key drawcard. There is an internal garden – one of Tiffen’s favourite spots – as well as a variety of interesting spaces, some of them sunny and light-filled places to sit and read, others of the more traditional, low-lit variety that invite those intent on serious study.

“Our digital services are fantastic, but students during lockdown did miss the space and having somewhere to be on campus – we remain open for extended hours, and students tell us it is really valuable to have somewhere safe and staffed to come and study,” Tiffen says.

Heart and soul: In regular circumstances, thousands of people visit the library every day.

“I think one of the really interesting things about the ambience is that it changes over a session – you can track the academic year through the library; at the start of a session, it’s very buzzy and social, with lots of new students coming in.

“Towards the end, when people get into the exam period, it is quieter and more intense as a vibe, because people have come in for serious study – they want to camp out all day and crank out assignments, or study for exams.”

Tiffen says the library’s spaces have evolved over the 10 years in response to feedback from clients and the changing needs of students.  “We hope the Library continues to be a place that inspires curiosity and intellectual inquiry for many years to come.”