A 21ST-CENTURY LEARNING SPACE IN A CENTURY-OLD COLLEGE › ... › 2016 › 12 › LRC-Brochure-double-spr… · A 21ST-CENTURY LEARNING SPACE IN A CENTURY-OLD COLLEGE St John’s

A 21ST-CENTURYLEARNING SPACE IN A

CENTURY-OLD COLLEGESt John’s College Learning Resource Centre

Libraries lie at the heart of a university. A library that can respond to and provide for a full university education, encompassing both academic learning and personal and social development; is a space in which students can think, reflect, study, research, debate, share, and learn. The importance of libraries to higher education is without question. It is why most of the UK’s university libraries have, in the last 15 years, been subject to major extensions, extensive redevelopments, or complete new builds.

St John’s College, along with 12 of the 16 other distinct residential and educational Colleges that comprise Durham University, has its own library. Together with the University’s five library sites, College libraries provide students with a variety of learning resources and environments: from the individual and quiet, to the group and discursive; all tailored to meeting their needs and, in the case of only John’s and University College, accessible 24/7.

St John’s College Library, located within the College’s South Bailey grounds in the former chapel, is no longer able to meet 21st-century study needs.

THE CURRENT LIBRARY• It has no shared learning spaces and can offer only 40 cramped, uncomfortable, and badly-lit individual study spaces to a growing student body. That’s a ratio of 20 students per study space.

• It is at capacity, housing 30,000 books across the range of academic subjects taught at the University - typically core texts which, due to demand, are difficult to get hold of through the main University libraries; and a high quality collection in theology and ministry.

• It is unable to accommodate the development of electronic resources which are fundamental to today’s learning.

• It is accessible only via the main College building and requires a key which gives the holder access to the entire building (excluding individual residential rooms).

• It does not allow full disabled access.

In addition to all of this, the College is running out of teaching space due to the growth of Cranmer Hall. John’s is unique within the University in that it is home to a theological institution; and it is the only College within Durham University to offer teaching. This aspect of College activity is one of the primary reasons for its foundation in 1909 and remains an integral part of its present day identity and reputation.

ST JOHN’S COLLEGE NEEDS A 21ST-CENTURY CENTRE FOR LEARNING.

OUR VISION The Centre will have four floors – a basement and three-storey structure which reflects the scale of the adjacent Cathedral and College buildings.

The main entrance will be through an intimate courtyard. The ground floor will provide the main public circulation areas, flexible meeting and exhibition spaces. The outlook to South Bailey will be fully glazed.

The basement level will be home to lecture spaces. The first and second floors will provide book stacks and study areas, with views of the Cathedral Tower providing inspiration to hard working students and scholars. The south-west section of the site will include an external terrace – an outdoor sanctuary leading into the garden of the adjoining Etchells House.

THE LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRE WILL...

• Improve College’s facilities and enhance the learning experience for generations of Johnians.• Allow College to share its resources with other members of the University and the local community. • Enable College to grow and flourish as part of a top UK University.• Enhance College’s reputation as a centre of cutting edge ministerial and lay theological training.• Develop the Durham World Heritage Site.

LEARNING RESOURCE CENTREThe Learning Resource Centre will represent the first new build on the historic Bailey in decades. It will likely be the only such development in a lifetime. The intended site – opposite the main College building, just footsteps away from Durham Cathedral – sits within a distinctive boundary visible on the earliest maps of the city. It falls within a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Centre will operate as a working academic library and offer a new and enhanced environment for learning. Individual and group study space will be provided for students; along with audio-visual equipment in flexible teaching and meeting spaces - including video conferencing facilities for joint teaching with other UK and world-wide programmes. It will offer the only purpose-built, sizable lecture space on the Bailey, suitable for conferences and events, and available for use by our neighbours – University Colleges and Departments, Durham Cathedral, and the wider local community. Opening up College’s outstanding theological collection to scholars, clergy and the local community will mark out Durham as one of the leading centres of church scholarship in the world.

Since 2006 College has invested £6 million in an ambitious estates strategy which has revitalised our student accommodation, dining facilities and grounds. This new build now forms the next stage of that strategy.

‘The new Learning Resource Centre is critical for both St John’s College and Durham University as a whole. It reflects our joint commitment to academic excellence, research and student opportunity within the collegiate system, and opens the College’s rich resources for our students and the wider community. It will be an important architectural addition on this historic site and will ensure the future of learning and education on the Bailey for future generations.’

- Professor Stuart Corbridge, Vice-Chancellor, Durham University

PROGRESS TO DATENorth East-based Darbyshire Architects have created a design which, after a careful consultation process, has received enthusiastic support from Durham City planners, English Heritage, ICOMOS-UK (International Council on Monuments and Sites), Durham University, Durham Cathedral and the City of Durham Trust. Planning permission has been secured.

HOW YOU CAN HELPAs an administratively and financially independent College within Durham University, St John’s is solely responsible for generating income to cover its operating costs and capital investment in its estates. We acknowledge our own responsibility in raising funds to build a new Learning Resource Centre and have already secured lead gifts from individuals and grant-giving trusts which have placed us just within reach of the project’s target. We are extremely grateful to all who have donated.

For the final stage of the campaign we are reaching out to our community – alumni, the Senior Common Room, church leaders/scholars, staff and students, and friends.

You can donate quickly and easily online at www.dunelm.org.uk/donations/colleges/johns. Please mention that you would like to specifically donate to the Learning Resource Centre.

If you would like more information about the project, or to speak to someone personally, please contact either the Principal, Rev. Prof. David Wilkinson: [email protected], telephone 0191 334 3856, or Claire Readey, Principal’s Office and Communications Manager: [email protected], telephone 0191 334 3873.

For 100 years St John’s College has demonstrated what can be achieved by a community that works together in faith. We put our faith in our community to bring this vision to reality.

FIDES NOSTRA VICTORIA

‘The proposed building would be a substantial but fitting addition to the street scene and the surrounding area. I conclude that it would

enhance the Durham City Conservation Area, the Durham Castle and Cathedral World Heritage Site, and preserve the settings of adjacent

listed buildings.’

- Planning Inspector

‘St John’s has been a significant centre of learning for over a century and has taught and nurtured a range of talented students, whose life and work have contributed greatly not only to our own country, but to countries all over the world. The proposal for the Learning Resource Centre will improve the College’s facilities and will enable growth. Its importance cannot be overestimated.’

- The Archbishop of York

ST JOHN’S COLLEGESt John’s College is one of the smallest in Durham University. It is home to 400 undergraduates, 160 postgraduates, 140 church leaders, and a team of 100 staff. For over 100 years it has been a community of learning in which people flourish for life, service, and leadership; in both society and the church.

The College is more than simply a hall of residence. The ‘Durham difference’ is the provision in the Colleges of an environment of education within inter-disciplinary conversation, a research culture, and a formation of the whole person in providing opportunities for sporting and cultural growth. John’s adds another important dimension – spiritual growth. We seek to create an atmosphere of serious discussion of faith which is characterised by generosity, openness, respect, and valuing people of all faiths and none.

St John’s not only looks at what it offers to its students, but looks outwards to the North East community, as well as to that of the country as a whole. We consider social responsibility as seriously as educational excellence, and we are proud that many of our graduates have gone on to make a real difference in the world: Richard Adams, a John’s student in the 1960s, pioneered the fair trade movement in the UK by founding Tearcraft and Traidcraft.

St John’s College is a UK registered charity (number 1141701), and as such is compliant with charity law and best practice as outlined by the Charity Commission.

St John’s College3 South BaileyDurhamDH1 3RJ

Telephone: 0191 334 3500Facebook: stjohnsdurhamTwitter: @stjohnsdurhamWebsite: www.dur.ac.uk/st-johns.college