UCL MEDIA RELATIONS

HRH The Princess Royal, Chancellor of the University of London will open a new 'Hybrid' Science Library at University College London (UCL), on Tuesday 26 March.

As part of UCL's programme of progressive developments to its library buildings, the refurbished facilities now offer students access to learning and research materials in both paper and electronic forms.

Through the creation of a new mezzanine, 155 PCs have been installed for use by students. Equipped with the latest LCD displays which consume less power and provide more space than conventional screens, these PCs are positioned in three 'clusters' for teaching, postgraduate research and open access.

Professor Michael Worton, Vice-Provost at UCL says:

"The refurbished Science Library is a major step forward for UCL in the provision of Library Services. Researchers and students need to be able to consult online journals and electronic databases as well as books and paper-based journals. This leads to wider ranging and more exciting research and already our students and staff have responded enormously enthusiastically to the refurbished building. Furthermore, we have included work stations dedicated to those with disabilities as part of our widening access strategy - again, it is good to see that these are already been regularly used."

The refurbishment project has been funded partly from a project capital grant awarded to UCL by HEFCE, the Higher Education Funding Council for England.