The University of Roehampton has started work on its purpose built library, which will be open to students and the public from Autumn next year.

Wandsworth Times:

The £34m, four-storey building will be in the Digby Stuart College, in the centre of campus.

Susan Scorey, the university’s librarian, said: "I am delighted that work is now under way to build our brand new library.

"It is going to be a real success story, and it’s a symbol of the commitment the whole University has made to high standards of academic achievement and research."

Siobhan Kelly, president of Roehampton Students’ Union, said: "It is good news for our students and for people living in Wandsworth that work is under way.

"Once the library is open it is going to be a great service for the university, and for anyone locally who wants to study in modern surroundings. It is really important to us that residents can make the most of having a university on their doorstep, and can meet our students; our new library is going to be one of the best ways to do that."

The library will house around 350,000 books and journals to help personal research or school or college work.

The library will also allow greater scope for the use and display of some of the University’s special collections, such as the Froebel Archive, Richmal Compton Collection, The Centre for Marian Studies covering all matters regarding the Virgin Mary, the Queen's Archive, featuring material on governance within the Roman Catholic Church in the UK and the Jewish Resource Centre Collection.

The new facility will have 300 more study spaces than the current library and be open seven days a week, 24 hours in peak times.