The Family Study Room is now open

We announced our plans for the Family Study Room over the summer. Since then we have finalised the look and feel of the space and we’re excited to say that it is now ready to use. We have the room as a six month trial initially, during which time we’ll seek lots of feedback to make sure it works as well as possible. To find out more about the room and to register to use it, explore our Family Study Room web page. Students with children who register with us will be invited to attend a 30-minute induction, after which we’ll set you up to use the room.

We want everyone to be able to use the Library without barriers or limits; the Family Study Room is one way to enable our students with children to succeed in their academic endeavours. To celebrate the launch of the room we invited Kirsty Lingstadt, Director of Library, Archives and Learning Services, and Wayne Campbell, Academic Registrar, to visit the space - they had great fun testing out all the furniture, books and toys.

Kirsty noted: "It's brilliant to have this facility to be able to welcome students with families into the Library and help support their study."

Wayne commented: "I am delighted to see this family friendly study space in place at the Library. It is an innovative solution in response to the Student Voice and offers a tangible benefit and support to students with children."

We believe that the room will be very popular with many students with children, but we appreciate that it won’t suit everyone’s preferences. That’s why we’ve also taken the opportunity to introduce a range of other measures to support students with children, including a book retrieval service and longer return times for requested items. To benefit from these additional services you will need to let us know that you’re a student with children. Contact us to update your status.

If you have any comments or questions about the Family Study Room please email us at library-family-study-group@york.ac.uk. We’d also be interested to hear from you if you’re aware of other groups of students who might benefit from similar adjustments from the Library.