Our trip to Brighton provided an opportunity to visit the new Jubilee Library - and given how limited the public library was when I lived in Brighton, I was looking forward to a big improvement. I wasn't disappointed - the new building really is superb. Unlike some other new library buildings the spaces were welcoming, appropriate for their users - and on a Tuesday morning satisfyingly busy.
From the outside the building doesn't make much of a statement, but it is in keeping with the buildings surrounding it, and once you are inside (and have passed through the library shop) opens out into a large multi-level space. But despite the openness, noise was contained in specific areas - like the 'sound and vision' area, and the 'study' area on the level above was suitably quiet for serious research.
The layout of the stock, and the placing of reading spaces divided the large floor area into manageable spaces, and this coupled with the provision of areas for particular user groups (children, young people, sound & vision) around the edge of the building, creating a series of separate but connected spaces meant that the library felt relaxed and easy to navigate.
As I've said the library was busy at 11am, with only two of the 30 spaces in the IT centre free - a very gratifying sight.
So I would say that this is a very effective new building, which is meeting local needs - a very encouraging sight indeed.
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