Learning News

A New Learning Space

Since the Library moved into its new St Pancras premises in 1997, we have welcomed tens of thousands of young people to the building to participate in workshops and projects. However, during this time, we have evolved the types of activity on offer and greatly expanded the reach of the programme to welcome more and more school groups and our existing Education Room no longer serves our purpose.

We are therefore planning to significantly enhance our Learning Space by knocking through the walls of two currently under-utilised rooms adjacent to the existing Education Room, to create a 187m² space that is almost treble the size of the existing facility. We will be able to keep this as one large space or divide it into two separate workshop spaces (69m² and 51m² respectively) which will be fully equipped with flexible furniture suitable for all age groups and enough power points and network connection points to enable each visitor to use a laptop computer and access the internet, as well as two wall-mounted interactive white boards with projectors.

The new Learning Space will provide a base for the learning activities and transform the Library's Learning Programme by significantly increasing the range and number of activities run and by enhancing the visitors' learning experience.

Learning Programmes Officer

At present, around 10,000 young people participate in onsite workshops and activities each year. However, following the construction of the new Learning Space, we wish to increase participation by 50% over three years, raising our target to 15,000 p.a. We expect to achieve this expansion by doubling the number of core workshops held and doubling the number of post-16 students we work with. However, in order to manage this increased activity, we will need to appoint a new Learning Programmes Officer.

The role of the Officer will be to develop and deliver an inspirational programme of activities, workshops, events, conferences and projects to enable young people and new audiences to engage with the British Library. The Officer will deliver a wider range of initiatives for a broad audience including Primary and Secondary students, teachers, families and adult community groups.

For more information on either project

T +44 (0)20 7412 7030
E michele.burton@bl.uk