Maughan Library

The Maughan Library is the only one of King’s College’s libraries which covers non health related subjects and which is located north of the river. The building it is housed in is actually leased because it is on royal land. It was opened in 2001 and houses four libraries which have combined their materials into the one space. The building was built in 1851 and used to be the public record office. It was the first building to be fire-proof and because it used to house public records it is load bearing to handle all of the weight. The collection holds 750,000 items and is used mainly by the students at the Strand campus. The collections are 92% full and they are in the process of making the entire collection self-service for the users. Library of Congress Classification is used for all of the materials.

We were given a tour by Michael who showed us the Round Reading Room which was modeled after the British Library when it was housed at the British Museum. It has been used numerous times for film (Da Vinci Code) and television because it looks like a library is traditionally thought to look.

We went to the Foyle Special Collections Library and were shown some of the collection by Hugh, Assistant Librarian. There are 150,000 items in the special collections which mainly consist of printed books. They conform to BS54 standards in regards to temperature, security, etc but the collection is open to the public as long as identification is given. Because not all of the items have been entered into the electronic catalog they still have the card catalog. The materials are strongest in the medical and theological disciplines. Their acquisitions budget is quite small so they only purchase 10-15 item a year.