Construction to launch

Construction on site started in May 2005 and the building was handed over at the end of March 2007 by the principal contractor, BAM Construct UK plc.

Like many major new buildings, the Information Commons had two openings. The first, on 10th April 2007 (Easter Tuesday) was when students first entered the IC, and discovered its exciting and modern new spaces. This momentous day followed an Easter holiday of frantic activity by computing (CiCS), Library and Estates staff as the building was readied for use, with final IT connections, the transfer of 100 000 books – many of them brand new – and last-minute snagging.

Then, on 26th September 2007, the Information Commons closed briefly for its official opening ceremony. As befits one of the world´s top 100 universities, with a global reach, the event had an international flavour. The building was declared open by Harsh Srivastav, from Lucknow, India, in the presence of the Consul General of India, Mr N P Sharma, Vice Chancellor Bob Boucher, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield Cllr Arthur Dunworth, and 200 distinguished guests from the UK and India. Harsh is a former President of our Union of Students; and after an excellent speech he unfurled a banner into the atrium of the IC. He´s pictured at right with IC Manager Alex Hunt.

Since the building opened, thousands of visitors from all over the world have come to explore its innovative design and operation. And most important of all, the IC has been hugely popular with the university´s students for whom it was designed, with total library visits up by some 50% since it opened.

The future

The Information Commons brief stated that the building should accommodate the needs of the students of 2007, and as far as possible, those of 2057. How can we try to ensure that the IC remains fit for purpose into the second half of this century?

Firstly, it´s important to understand that the IC is primarily about student learning and the resources and study spaces that support it, rather than about the technology or the collections that it houses.

Key to the answer, therefore, is maximum flexibility. Most of the IC´s internal spaces can be radically reconfigured at relatively low cost. Over the next 50 years, we can expect to see new information technologies, from much lighter and more portable laptop and notebook PCs, to e-paper and other new types of flexible display. We can also expect to see more e-books, as new economic models extend to book publishing the benefits of digital access that have already transformed the library´s journal collections.

But whatever the technology, or the format of the collections, the requirement for high quality learning space where students can study in the style that suits them is likely to remain central for campus-based universities well into the future. And buildings like the Information Commons are showing the way ahead.