Jane Austen

Portsmouth Central Library

~ librarytouristblog

 

“Standing in bold contrast to the adjacent international-style Civic Offices and neo-classical Guildhall, the Norrish central library in Portsmouth, Hampshire was designed by city architect Ken Norrish and completed in 1976.  Its striking sculptural form in incised concrete is a grandiose composition of curvaceous volumes and heraldic turrets.” Brutalism Online

I love the above quote. Brutalism is a very apt description of the architecture. Portsmouth Central Library celebrated 40 years in 2016. It became the Norrish Central Library in 1995 named after its designer. It is a vast building of five floors and packed full of books. The décor is a bit brown and orange and in a 70s way rather than a modern way.

There were two Jane Austen exhibits and what looks like a permanent local authors display. I like a library that has jigsaws out but I’m not sure of the etiquette when doing a communal jigsaw. I have seen posters about getting free ebooks from the library but this was the first time I have seen a poster mentioning free music downloads from the library – very interesting.

 

Virtually all of the second floor is the Portsmouth History Centre.

Portsmouth (19)

It wasn’t very busy on a Friday early lunchtime in August, but this library will be able to hold a lot of people without it being obvious. I think the CCTV signs are a consequence of  that.

Winchester Discovery Centre

~ librarytouristblog

Winchester (10)

Winchester Discovery Centre was very busy on a Friday lunchtime at the start of the school summer holidays. There was a science festival on and the Animal Agents summer reading challenge was in full swing.

The Discovery Centre opened in November 2007 after a £7million refurbishment. The entrance still has grand pillars outside but inside it is very modern and clustered around the central circular area. It was colourful, inviting, lively and with funky colours and signs.

I think Winchester wins the prize for the best library name as “Discovery Centre” really is a wonderful name for a library and cultural hub.

There were lots of study spaces dotted around the library – a large number in use for a summer Friday. There is a café, performance hall, gallery and small library shop.

There was a display of a Jane Austen books as she lived in Hampshire and it is the 200 year anniversary of her death. There was a proper exhibition earlier in the year but that had finished before we got there.

Winchester (8)