Norwich Forum and Millennium Library

The Forum is the name given to the new landmark building at the heart of the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium project. The £63.5 million Millennium project for the East of England is funded by a £31.5 million grant from the Millennium Commission with matching funding from Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council and the business community. In addition to the building, the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Project has a responsibility for establishing a Norfolk network for the dissemination of knowledge, to promote lifelong learning for the social and economic benefit of the people of the county, and to provide a cultural and recreational amenity for the whole community. The Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library situated in The Forum opens its doors to the public for the first time at 10.00am on Thursday November lst.

The landmark building has been designed by internationally renowned architects Michael Hopkins & Partners, and is located on the site of the old library and former Bethel Street car park in Norwich.

Norfolk & Norwich Millennium library - At the heart of The Forum, the new Millennium Library is the original 'raison d'Ctre' for the entire project (the previous Norwich Central Library was destroyed by fire in 1994). We want it to be the finest regional public library in the country with high standard of equipment and furnishing, including 220 study spaces. Eighty five of these will be equipped with terminals providing free access to the lnternet, word processing and desktop publishing facilities and a wide range of CD-ROM information sources; ten of the terminals have been specially adapted for the use by people with disabilities. On the ground floor the library,will feature a unique area know as 'Express - a fast self-service section open weekdays, evenings and weekends, offering popular titles, CDs, videos DVDS and lnternet access.

The children's section is also situated on the ground floor and is designed to encourage learning for babies and children in a bright fun environment, with books, CDs and videos. For older children there is a huge range of popular titles along with reference and online information for research projects.

On the second floor, the Norfolk Heritage Centre combines information on Norfolk studies and the Norfolk Records Office and provides an ideal research base for local and family history projects. The centre will house 16,000 digitised photographs of Norfolk and Norwich, which will also be available on the World Wide Web, as well as digitised versions of the Eastern Daily Press. For family and local historians we have copied microfilm records such as parish registers and probate records from the Norfolk Record Office. Also on the second floor is the business Library combining the resources of the business reference section, Business Link Norfolk Information Service and the Euro lnfo Centre to offer a range of business and European information to the local business community.

The new library makes extensive use of the best in information and communications technology, with broadband connections to the other 50 branch libraries across Norfolk.

The library shares its accommodation with the Origins Visitor Attraction - a spectacular multimedia journey that tells the story of Norfolk and Norwich through the ages. There is also the Norwich Tourist Information Centre, the City Learning Station, equipped with the latest technology to provide a wide range of flexible learning options, the Learning shop, providing up to date information and advice about courses and other learning opportunities. Pizza Express will be providing food from early in the morning until midnight.

Next year the BBC is planning to move its Norwich-based television and radio operations to The Forum. The new broadcasting facilities are set to be among the first of a new generation of multi-media broadcasting centres across the UK. Underneath the library there is a two storey underground car park which replaces the popular Bethel Street surface car park and offers 206 secure city-centre parking spaces with video surveillance.

One of the most important and innovative elements of the Millennium Project is its intended role as the hub of a developing network in Norfolk and beyond for the dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of lifelong learning for the social and economic benefit of all the people of Norfolk and Norwich. The Project is already the Norfolk hub for the government's Learndirect initiative, placing it at the heart of on-line learning activity in the county. Access to over 500 on-line courses is already available through seventeen 'walk-in' Learning Centres around the county, set up by the further education colleges and the Library service as part of the planned Norfolk-wide network. The Learning Centres and smaller Access Points, located in schools, libraries, village halls and other public buildings, are being established to cover the entire county so that every resident is within seven miles of easy access to the ever-growing range of on-line education, learning, communication and information services.

Look out for a programme about the library on BBC East in November.
If anyone from the eastern region would like to arrange a visit to the new library in Norwich, then just call 01603 744701

Jan Holden
  
(Autumn 2001 Easterner)