During periods where you have a large amount of work to do for your course, you may find the library becomes your second home. At the Medway campus, the library is shared with the Universities of Greenwich and Kent – all students and staff from all 3 Universities at Medway are welcome.

It is sometimes said that the Drill Hall Library is the longest library in Europe. We’re not really sure, but we do know that it’s very long. This means that almost everything is on one floor, which is divided into three study zones. So what can you find here?

Study zones

While sometimes you might want to work in silence by yourself, other times you might benefit from group work, or maybe you just want to socialise with your friends while looking over some notes. The library has created designated zones so that you can study in a way that suits your studying style, and caters to your needs, without disrupting others.

The Silent Study Zone is the furthest away from the library entrance, at the far end of the library if you turn left after passing the Reception desk. This is the area to choose when you need to work on your own in silence.

• Work silently – no talking or whispering at all in this area, please.
• No hot food.
• No leaky headphones – please make sure others can’t hear your music.
• No phones – please keep phones on silent.

The Quiet Study Zone is in the middle of the building, immediately to your left as you come through the entrance.  This is the space to focus on your work. You can work with one or two other people here if you need to.

• Work quietly – please respect other library users and keep conversations short. Consider using the Group Study Zone if you need to discuss your work.
• No hot food.
• No leaky headphones – please make sure others can’t hear your music.
• No phones – please keep phones on silent.
  

The Group Study Zone is found to the right when you come through the entrance gates. Use this area for group work and collaboration – use these areas when discussion and working together is essential.

• Cold food only – no hot, smelly or noisy food (you can eat hot and smelly food in the library café, the Archibald Hay Mess).
• No excessive noise – please respect other groups studying nearby.
• Quiet phone calls allowed – please keep phones on vibrate/silent. No calls on loud speaker please.
• Please respect the notices regarding how many people can use each group area.

While the library staff strive to make sure that the library offers the best possible environment, this can only be achieved when everyone who uses the library works together to respect one another. Happily, this is usually the case, but if you do encounter a disturbance, you can report that to us discreetly by using the Feedback link at the top of the Drill Hall Library website and selecting “Report a disturbance”. One of our team will then visit your location to resolve the issue.

Other facilities

Family study room – located on the ground floor of the library by the Group Zone. The parent or guardian of children (under 18 years of age) must first sign in at reception to access this room. The room is available during term Monday to Friday 8am – 7pm and weekends 9am – 5pm. During summer period, it is available Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm, weekends 10.30am – 4.30pm.

The Archibald Hay Mess provides hot and cold drinks and snacks, and has vending machines if you need something when they’re not open. You can also eat your own food in here.

Lifestyle Collection – found in the Group Study Zone, this is a collection of books which have nothing to do with academic study. Fiction, biographies, cookbooks, exercise plans, information about the local area and more.

Printing and scanning – there are printers in each of the library zones. You can release your print job anywhere in the library plus you can also photocopy and scan by touching your smartcard on the printer. Just look for a printer that has a CCCU logo above it.

Poster printing – there are machines in the library for super-cheap A1 (£2) and A0 (£4) printing. You can print to these yourself, but can ask a member of staff for help if you need to.

Lapsafe – you can borrow a laptop from our LapSafe machine for use on campus for either same day loan until 9pm (term time) or 7 day loan. Please note that the laptops can only connect to eduroam, so there will be no WiFi access off campus.”

Find out more at the Drill Hall Library website.