The David Wilson Library University of Leicester
The new David Wilson Library has recently been transformed and named after David Wilson who donated £2m and is the Library’s Premier Benefactor. The Library was officially opened by HM The Queen in December 2008.
No single building epitomises the University’s commitment to world-class education than this iconic Library which provides state-of-the-art facilities at the heart of the campus and which symbolise the heart of the University’s intellectual life.
It is a stunning 5-floor building, light and airy with walls clad in cherry-wood and central atria adorned with hanging sculptures. It has already won several prestigious awards and a year after opening has recorded over 1 million visits.
Students’ needs are at the centre of the new development and Leicester’s position at the top of the student satisfaction league table in England is enhanced even further with the David Wilson Library which offers 1500 user spaces, 350-terminal PC zones and is wireless networked throughout.
It has 13 group study rooms, each with plasma screens and, given that half of the University’s students are doing postgraduate courses, a special suite for postgraduates with superior furniture and study facilities. There is a help zone in which IT and library staff help students who can’t find a book or are having computer trouble. An important innovation is a conveyor belt system which enables the fast return of books; another is a bank of self-service machines where students can issue books themselves.
To top everything, the David Wilson Library boasts a café, a bookshop, a 500-seat auditorium and a careers and student development centre.