The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre stands as a significant investment in the rebuilding and expanding of the present Main Library, which was built in 1925. Three wings were added to the ‘historic core’ over the years. The building is a landmark piece of campus architecture. However, the old building was found to be seismically unsafe and reaching its capacity to serve the library users and staff.

In 2002, Mr Irving K. Barber, a wealthy industrialist who received his Forestry degree from UBC in 1950, gave CAN$ 20 million to the University of British Columbia to convert the Main Library into a high-tech library to serve the academic and broader community. Mr Barber’s donation was matched by grants of CAN$ 30 million from UBC and CAN$ 10 million from the provincial government. The fund is transforming the library into a multi-purpose resource facility that supports the university as well as the community throughout British Columbia.

The first phase of the Learning Centre was completed in summer last year. We could enter the Learning Centre through the East Mall entrance. Construction began in 2003 and the Main Library is closed at present and not accessible to public and staff. Collections and services from the Main Library have been relocated to the Learning Centre. We could see massive construction work at the Main Library nearby. (Phase 2 includes renovation of the historic core of the Main Library and demolition and reconstruction of the south wing). Students using the Centre do not seemed to be bothered by the noise. Although we could only see part of the completed Learning Centre, the following were the interesting highlights of the visit:

Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS)

The UBC Library has been building its electronic resources, however, print materials are still being acquired to support teaching and research at the University. To cope with the fast growing collection, an automated book retrieval system has been built at the Learning Centre.

Users can retrieve materials from the storage system by making a request through the Library’s online catalogue. The material’s barcode is used to track its location. Once the item has been identified, the bin holding the requested item will be delivered to the circulation desk via an automated crane.

A library staff retrieves the requested item from the bin and places it for pickup by the requestor. The whole retrieval process takes less than 5 minutes. We were told that to maximise the use of space in the bin, materials are shelved according to their sizes instead of their classification numbers. The bin also comes in various sizes. The ASRS, which is the first in Canada, can hold 1.4 million volumes, which is equivalent to 15 years of collection growth for the Library.

Information access beyond campus

The Learning Centre is accessible to and by all British Columbians. To support the community outreach mandate of the new Learning Centre, several programs are being developed to foster lifelong learning in the broader community. These include the information literacy guides and learning technologies to help the community navigate and access the resources at the university.

A multipurpose resource facility

The computer-enhanced environment integrates traditional library services with information technologies and evolves as a multi-purpose, 24/7 resource facility. It is equipped with high-speed wireless Internet access and video streaming. This one-stop facility will be the first such academic facility in Canada that supports information resources, services, research activities, collaboration and interdisciplinary learning in one building.

Woodward Biomedical Library

After leaving the Learning Centre, we visited the Woodward Biomedical Library. The supported scaffolds that looked like a maze leading to the library entrance amused us. There was some construction work at the library. The Woodward Biomedical Library is the principal library for materials in the life sciences and houses the largest health sciences collection in western Canada. The Charles Woodward Memorial Room holds special materials on the history of medicine and the natural sciences. There were large tapestries on display in the Memorial Room. One of the pieces, called Masters of the Spirit showed interesting imperfections as a result of the weaver suffering from stroke that affected his sense of perception.

Note: The author would like to thank Mr Simon Neame and Ms Sally Taylor from University of British Columbia for giving the tour at the Irving Barber Learning Centre and Woodward Biomedical Library and Ms Christine Quinlan for arranging the library visit.

Contributed by Sara Pek, Senior Reference Librarian, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library NLB with photos by Ronnie Tan, NLB