Looking at four UK “hybrid” libraries

As part of my on‐going investigation into the ways library planners are integrating learning technologies into their buildings’ architecture and facilities, I visited the libraries of four professional/technical universities in the UK. All of these institutions have only become fully fledged universities within the past ten years and all of them have opened libraries within the past four. In each instance, the buildings modify the traditional understanding of a “library” as an information resource by integrating technology training labs, multimedia resources, and other support services. The British consider these to be “hybrid” libraries, although these buildings are also indicative of the future of information resource accessibility for academic institutions across the board. This article will analyze the features of each of the four libraries and seek to demonstrate how their “hybrid” qualities are fitting into developing trends of library design and technology design already identified by this author in previous articles.