Carmarthen Library

Having undergone major refurbishment and an external facelift, Carmarthen Library re-opened with innovative, state-of-the-art technology, increased study space and improved stockholding. The £2.6 million investment was aimed at bringing Cultural Services to the forefront and in particular, supporting the library’s local history and Welsh/Anglo-Welsh collections.

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Brief

We submitted a winning proposal to design and install the shelving and furniture for the project. The foyer is a bright, modern, welcoming space containing self-servicepoints, digital signage and comfortable seating finished in high-performance, contemporary fabrics.

Sharing the entrance area is a vibrant, new Children’s Library. As well as being a magical space which makes use of contemporary materials, a stylish graphic solution and an onpoint colour scheme, it is also a focal point to support families and improve reading, literacy skills and confidence.

The new Reference Library is similarly innovative. As part of the refurbishment, the IT Suite was relocated to another part of the Reference floor, where there is a dedicated family history zone, an IT training room and access to 3D printers.

Featuring new desks and study spaces, many equipped with power sockets and USB ports enabling customers to work on their own devices in a quiet, comfortable environment – facilities that have been very popular with students and local businesses as well as regular library users – the Reference Library also contains a multi-media table and new, custombuilt exhibition cabinets which securely house valuable exhibits. All the shelving is also new, and the whole Reference area has been given a contemporary design with an industrial twist.

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Solution

These new facilities not only provide a great new home for reference and local history materials, the county archive service is set to be located here in a new, state-of-the-art extension and a new Makerspace area is soon to follow.

This has been a very exciting project for both customers and staff at Carmarthen Library. The new facility is a unique and valuable resource that perfectly balances social spaces for interaction and knowledge exchange, quiet spaces for contemplation, a makerspace for innovation and, most importantly, a neutral and trusted space for public use, and visitor numbers are set to increase substantially.

As a result, the library has been chosen by the National Library of Wales as one of four locations across Wales to house a National Broadcast Archive Clip Centre, with materials charting almost 100 years of iconic moments in 20th Century Welsh history. The combination of technology and digital offering, exhibition space and green-screen equipment enable library staff and exhibition partners to bring this history to life for local users and visitors through a variety of interactive sessions.

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