Photo of new silent zone, taken by library staff.

As part of the Augustine House improvement program this year, we are please to announce the opening of a new silent study zone in Augustine House. The silent study zone is still on the third floor, but it is now located on the opposite side of the building (previously the third floor collaborative study zone).

This new space has been designed based on your feedback and seeks to address the problem of noise coming from teaching and other spaces in the building.

Photo of the new wall/ the void filled in, taken by library staff.

When the silent zone was in its previous location, one of the main pieces of feedback we received was around the noise from spaces nearby, particularly the lecture theatre, the seminar room, and the toilets. The new silent zone location, no longer adjoins any learning space, and you will no longer hear loud talks or lectures taking place. Although the whole room is for silent study we have built an additional subdividing wall, so you can chose to study away from disruptions such as those walking through to the toilets, using the water dispenser or accessing book stock. However, these essential facilities of course remain nearby for you to use. A new wall has been erected around the void space between second and third floor, to reduce noise bleeding in from the floor below.

We are currently developing new signage for the silent study zone to identify it more clearly. We will also relaunch our noisy neighbour service, so if you do experience noise in the zone you can discretely let us know and a member of library or security staff will be on hand to help.

Photo of the wall of the silent zone from the outside, taken by library staff.

Most of the feedback we have received about the silent zone in previous years has been about how many students value a managed silent space to study in, which has made it a priority for us during the Augustine House improvement project. We’ll be monitoring and making additional improvements to the space throughout the year, so if you have any feedback please let us know.