Philip Robinson Library

The Library at Newcastle University

Our Library’s history can be traced back to the College of Physical Science in Newcastle. When founded in 1871, the College of Physical Science’s book collection could be housed in a single bookcase. From these humble beginnings the collection grew in terms of size and subjects. During the late 19^th Century, the college’s teaching portfolio expanded beyond Science and Technology to include Arts subjects, and so did its collections. Medicine could also be studied at the dedicated College of Medicine.

The College of Physical Science was renamed the Armstrong College in 1904. At this time a Library could be found on the third floor of what is now the Armstrong Building, before moving to a larger room on the first floor in 1906. In 1909 University status was acquired by the Armstrong College and it became part of Durham University.

First Library building

In 1926 the Library moved into its first purpose built building at the west end of the Quadrangle, under the watchful eye of the Librarian, Frederick Bradshaw (1921 -36). For the first time the libraries of the Royal Infirmary, the Durham College of Medicine and Armstrong College were brought together. The new building incorporated sufficient book stacks to accommodate up to 200,000 volumes. Some of these stacks are still used to this day to store some of the University Library’s less used collections. Located away from the book stacks a series of Reading rooms provided space for up to 200 users.

King’s College was created in 1937 by the amalgamation of Durham University’s Armstrong College and the College of Medicine in Newcastle on the formal federalisation of Durham University. By this time plans were already being made to extend the Library to accommodate the significant growth in student numbers and collections. Unfortunately, the Second World War and the years of austerity that followed delayed, until the late 1950s, the construction of a U-shaped extension that wrapped around the 1926 Library.

The extension was designed to provide a light, airy building with a semi-circular north flank facing on to Claremont Road. High quality build materials were used, including Portland stone copings and San Stefano marble window linings. It increased the Library space to four times the original size, to comfortably house 450,000 volumes and 780 users. Opened in 1960 this enhanced Library was renamed the University Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, probably in anticipation of King’s College becoming University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1963. These days the building is know as the Old Library and accommodates a variety of teaching and study spaces, including the Language Resource Centre.

A new building

Even before 1963 early plans for further extending the building were afoot. The ambitions of the new University meant space needed to be found for 750,000 volumes and study spaces for 2000 users.  By the 1970s, the Library had become overcrowded by books and readers. The Old Library lacked the facilities to conserve the more rare and unique collections of the Library and the University had simply outgrown the existing space. Neither did the building offer the infrastructure or flexibility that was necessary to be able adopt the newly emerging technologies which were beginning to change the ways information was accessed, used and managed.  

Completed precisely on schedule on 27th April 1982, a new Library building opened on Jesmond Road West, occupying ground cleared during the construction of the Newcastle Central Motorway in the early 1970s. The building was opened to readers and brought into full use in August 1982, and within the first year, had become a central part of the University campus, witnessing an increase in use that made the building 30% busier than its predecessor.

Originally known simply as the Library, in 1989 it was renamed the Robinson Library in recognition of the generous support given by its benefactors, Philip and Marjorie Robinson. A bookseller in the city and benefactor to the Library, the £8 million bequest in the will of Philip's widow Marjorie remains the largest sum donated to a UK university library. In 2016, the building became the Philip Robinson Library as the University Library extended across four buildings, with the opening of the Marjorie Robinson Library Room.