Today (26 February 2019) is the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Headington Library in the John Henry Brookes Building. The former Headington Library (now totally unrecognisable as the Business School) closed for the final time on the evening of Friday 21 February 2014 and immediately the teams of professional book movers started to work round the clock to move all the books and journals to their new home in JHB.
Contents of offices were also moved and IT equipment was installed. After many years in the planning and building, the excitement was mounting! The Forum opened to students on Monday 24 February 2014 and this was celebrated with cake and the singing of a mob choir. The Library opened for business at 08.30 on Wednesday 26th and stayed open 24/7 until the end of exams in May.
Welcoming the students to the new library and watching them exploring the new spaces and then happily settling down to study was certainly a wonderful time and a great reward for all the long hours that so many people had worked to get the library designed, built and operational. The opening was marked with a silent disco in the Forum on the first lunchtime.
We know from feedback, for example at Open Days, that five years on the JHB Building still has that WOW factor and it’s still an inspiring space in which to work and study. Please take a moment to enjoy the photos of the old and the new (well, no longer quite so new at 5 years of age!).
– Helen Workman, Director of Library Services
OXFORD BROOKES LIBRARY NEWS 