Library and Archives Services

Welcome to Main Arts Building; within this building are various lecture rooms used for different subjects. The building is also connected to the Bangor University Library. In this Library, we have different rooms which hold books for various subjects and offer a place to read and study. Those rooms are:

• Shankland reading room
• Lloyd reading room
• Richards reading room
• The Stack - archives and special collections

The Library houses digital services, which can help with different queries, for example, how Blackboard and Panopto work.

IT helpdesk is now based in the Library. IT Support is the first point of contact for both staff and students, allowing people to contact IT Services either by phone, email or in person. IT Support provides advice and training, as well as resolving problems with the University systems and software, including the halls Residential Network. The diversity of this team allows over 50% of calls to be resolved at the first contact.

This team is actively involved with all projects running across IT Services to ensure that the end user's perspective is always considered. The team is also responsible for maintaining and updating all student facing computing spaces to ensure that no shared computer is older than five years old. Main Arts also offers two computer rooms, those being CR1 and CR2. Lastly, it also has the Pritchard Jones Hall, which is where most graduation ceremonies are held.
Teras Lounge restaurant and Teras Cafe is on the lower ground of the Main Arts building.

Within the Main Arts, we have a temporary entrance to the Library. The entrance takes you to the Lloyd reading room. The building was built between 1907 and 1911 and the style of the architect of Main Arts can be described as Collegiate Tudor.  This image shows stained glass windows, decorative tiled flooring, and bare stone walls, giving us a very clean and historical-looking building.

We immediately see this large and grand-looking room in the Lloyd Reading Room. This room has also a lengthy corridor. We are instantly hit with a vibrant red and dotted yellow carpet on the sides. We have a long grey carpet all along the centre of the room/corridor. Along with this grand carpet, we have stacks of wooden bookshelves. In The Lloyd Reading room, we also have some old wooden tables and chairs. This can be a place where students can come and read in peace and quiet. Finally, in this room, we can see large traditional spring line-shaped windows which allow plenty of light into the room, and again we have these bare stone walls which run throughout the Main Arts Building/ Library. 

A small room, with white painted walls and black tiled flooring. This area offers a space for students to print anything they need, and this also provides a place for you to return your books. This room also connects you to the main area of the library, where you can talk to staff and go to It Services .

The main entrance to the Main Library is sited off the Main Arts Building outer quad. On weekdays, press the button by the inner door and the door will open. For evenings and weekend access, hold your Bangor Staff or Student card against the card reader to open the door. This takes you through to the reception area.

The reception area is where you will find the Library helpdesk - home to the Library support team. This team will help you use the library catalogue, show you how to find books on the shelves, assist with accessing electronic resources and databases and demonstrate how to use equipment (i.e. self -service machines and printers). It’s also the place to go if you have a problem with your ID card and the team can also help with some basic IT queries like getting on wireless networks or helping you change your password too….and if this team can’t help with a question they will point you at who can! The library helpdesk is also the place to come to collect books that you have reserved for collection.

Also in the reception area, you will find:

• The IT support team – based in a room just off reception, they can help with in-depth IT enquires and also handle IT equipment collections.
• Assistive technology room (ATR) – this is a restricted access space, equipped with specialised hardware and software for use by students with disabilities.
• Self -service machines – follow the instructions on screen to borrow and return library books.
• Library Security System - Walking through the gates with a book that you haven’t borrowed (or haven’t borrowed properly) will will trigger the security gates to alarm. Please see a member of the library team if this happens to you
• Lift – The library reception is actually counted as level 1.  Choose ground floor to take the lift to the basement level (Stack), and level 2 for what you would think is the first floor!

These stairs lead to different areas of the Library, those being Shankland reading room and Richard reading room. There is a poem called the College on the hill on the wall where the staircase is. The corridor is long and narrow to reach these two places. The area just outside the Richards reading room is where you will find the Teaching and learning support team. This team provides in-depth support for students and staff to:

· use digital tools, software and our virtual learning environment,

· find, explore and evaluate resources for learning and research,

· enhance study skills and build digital capabilities.

They also offer:

· bilingual 1-to-1 consultations,

· workshops and training,

· study and research discussion groups,

· online support via email (for digital issues) and Teams.

In the corridor are old books on an old wooden bookshelf closed by glass doors.

Here you will find a small seating area comprising sofas and bistro tables where you can eat or drink (but no hot food please).

Shankland is our grandest reading room. It’s a quiet room – therefore no noise when in this room please, and, like other reading rooms, no food or drink in here either. It's OK to consume drinks and cold food in the sofa area immediately outside of Shankland.

The room contains study spaces. All are covered by Wifi, but there are no power sockets available in Shankland for powering laptops or charging devices.

The area just outside the Richards reading room is where you will find the Teaching and learning support team. This team provides in depth support for students and staff to:

• use digital tools, software and our virtual learning environment
• find, explore and evaluate resources for learning and research
• enhance study skills and build digital capabilities.

They also offer:

• bilingual 1-to-1 consultations
• workshops and training
• study and research discussion groups
• online support via email (for digital issues) and Teams.

Richards is one of four reading rooms in the Main Library. This is a quiet room. Please keep noise to a minimum when in here – whispered conversations only. Also, please don’t bring food or drink into this room. You are welcome to eat cold food on one of the sofas or at one of the bistro tables elsewhere in the building. You should not bring hot food into the building.

Richards contains a number of study spaces (most with power sockets, all covered by wifi) as well as PCs for student use.

The room also holds all items listed as “Richards reading room” when you look for books on the library catalogue. Subjects held in this room include Social Sciences, Business, Law, Education, Music (books only - music score are stored in the basement stack) Languages and Literature, Sciences, Agriculture and technology.

At the end of the room, there is another smaller room which contain some individual study carrels as well as ‘ordinary’ study desks. Like the rest of Richards, this is a quiet, food and drink free, area.