The Guille-Allès Library’s study room has undergone a transformation, thanks to support from the Social Investment Fund and the John Ramplin Trust.
A complete refurbishment of the Hayward Room, which is the largest room on the library’s second floor, took place with the aim of creating a brighter, and more welcoming environment for students, remote workers, and lifelong learners.
Key features of the upgrade include new carpet, a new ceiling on the lower level, brand new lighting, and the first ‘study pod’ which has been donated by the local furniture supplier OfficeMaker.
The upgraded Hayward Room re-opened last week and has already proved popular with students.
Chris Jordan, is the Guille-Allès Library’s Head of Operations.
“We’re thrilled to unveil this upgrade to our study facilities, and we’re deeply grateful to SIF and the John Ramplin Trust for making it possible.
“The Hayward Room is extremely popular with students and people from all walks of life who need a quiet place to study or work, but in recent years it had become somewhat tired, and it needed an upgrade to ensure that it meets modern needs. The support from these wonderful community organisations has enabled us to transform the room, creating bright and comfortable surroundings that will improve the experience for all those studying and learning here.”
The Guille Alles Library has one study pod already, and is actively seeking sponsorship to fund the rest. Businesses or individuals interested in sponsoring a study pod should contact the library directly.
Adam Bayfield is the Head of Marketing & Customer Services. He said it is clear just how popular the Harward Room is for students.
“Hundreds of individuals do use the study space here at the library, kind of on a weekly basis. So we have lots of people in studying. Young people studying for their school exams, University exams – when they’re back during holidays, and more mature students studying for accountancy exams, things like that.
“The capacity of the room at the moment is 26 so one of the things we want to do now, the next step of this project, is to get all new furniture and actually increase that capacity, so replace our kind of somewhat aging furniture. Some of these tables have been in since the 1980s and what we’re looking to do now is get brand new study pods, and we’ve got one already which has proven very popular, these really high quality tables that have got built in lighting, charging ports and new comfortable chairs as well. So people can study here for as long as they want to, in comfort.
“We are now actively looking for sponsors to help us get some more of those study pods. We’ve got one already, we’re looking to get more, which will really improve the experience for people using the study space, but also more than double the capacity of the room, up to 60! It’ll provide free access to this world class study space, for the whole community.”
Tim Barker, the Chair of the Directors of the Social Investment Fund, added: “The Guille-Allès Library is an important and much-loved Guernsey institution. It is good news that the facilities have been developed so that they meet the needs of this generation of Guernsey people of all ages, and enable the Library to be used for a wide variety of events. We are delighted that the grant from the Social Investment Fund has helped to make this possible.”
A representative for the Trustees of the John Ramplin Trust commented: “We are delighted to support this project to improve the study facilities at the Library.”