While You Were Away: Library Space Upgrades

This is the first post in a series highlighting major Library developments that happened ‘while you were away’ over the summer. The full report is available here.

The 3 most significant space upgrades are as follows:

1.Power update: over the summer we added 100 new power/usb charging sockets to study desks and replaced 200 existing sockets with new twin power/usb sockets. This brings the total number of desks with easy access to power to 1,490. This now means that 100% of all seats in Library study areas now have power.

2. New PCs! 109 computers on Level 3 of the Library have been replaced over the summer. The old machines used 4th generation Intel Core i7 processors, whereas the new, faster HP computers have 8th generation processors.We have also addressed student comments about the monitors and have ensured all PCs have 24 inch TFT displays. All of these monitors are now height adjustable. However, the biggest enhancement is in their physical design; the PCs are now smaller, with a significantly reduced footprint. The PC’s are a lot more power efficient, quieter as they have fewer fans, and therefore generate less heat. This should result in a more pleasant working environment.

3. New street art on Level 4 of the Library. This is part of a co-creation research project with the Politics of Culture and Memory research cluster:

When Brazilian street artist and cultural activist Leandro Rodrigues de Souza, known as Leandro Tick, visited the UK in September 2019 as part of the Co-Creation research project we were keen to introduce him to some of our archival collections.

Leandro lives and works in the favela of Tabajaras in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started painting graffiti in 2001 and, since 2006, he has been teaching street art to children, participating in social projects, and organizing collective art events in the city. He cofounded CALLE, an association that promotes cultural exchange between locals and foreign volunteers, and initiated the Connexion Tabajaras Project to establish an openair community gallery supported by a team of local guides.

Co-Creation is a four-year project funded by the EU’s Marie Curie/RISE Horizon 2020

Kate Robinson (University Librarian) meets artist Leandro Rodrigues de Souza

scheme that brings together researchers, policymakers, residents, artists, and other stakeholders to ‘co-create’ understanding about urban neighbourhoods in Europe and Latin America. The methodology advanced by the project promotes social justice through an arts-based, participatory approach allowing those involved to share knowledge and experience, acquire transferable skills, form networks, and build cohesive communities.

The international Co-Creation consortium is made up of four universities and three NGOs. Dr Christina Horvath (PoLIS) is a founding member. She leads a team of 20 University of Bath researchers from across the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences.

Leandro has been collaborating with the Co-Creation project since 2018, contributing to workshops and arts-based research. His art takes many forms, but he is especially well known for depicting cityscapes, flora and fauna, and people from favelas. We liked the idea of showing him some of the historic photos of urban neighbourhoods in the Library’s Bristol Region Building Record. The artwork you see on this wall is what Leandro was inspired to paint. It includes some of his characteristic favela buildings and an iconic building in Stokes Croft, an area regarded by some as the birthplace of Bristol’s street art movement.

If you have any feedback or comments on any of these developments, please contact library@bath.ac.uk 

This entry was posted in archive & research collections, computers, engineering & design, events, humanities & social sciences, Library exchange, research, social and policy sciences, space, study areas. Bookmark the permalink.

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