The Lancaster University library is bigger, lighter and more tech-enabled than ever - and with digital resources that are available to alumni worldwide.

Campus is always evolving: colleges relocate, bars move, new eateries open. And yet you’ll find the entrance to the library, just where it has always been - nestled in an unassuming corner of Alexandra Square.

Enter the building, though, and you’ll find that it, too, has been transformed from the library of old.

Returning alumni, who are welcome to browse and join the library, will find a bright and technologically-enabled space thanks to an £8.6 million refurbishment in 2015 of the original 1967 library building and 1997 extension.

It’s very much a 21^st century learning environment, providing a place to focus 24/7 during term time. Those working on team projects can book group study spaces, the largest of which boast interactive technology, whilst anyone who wants somewhere to concentrate will find individual workstations in the building’s silent areas, each offering power sockets and USB points.

Amongst the digital advancements, though, those who pine for the feeling of a real book in their hands can rest assured: the library’s print collection is vast, with more than half a million printed titles available to browse and borrow within the library building.

The real talking point on entering the refurbished library, is Norman (or actually now Norma as the original has been replaced!) For those that haven’t yet been introduced Norman/a is a 12 metre-high Ficus tree. From the location on the ground floor of the library building it draws the eye up three stories through a central atrium to the glass roof above, naturally filtering the air.

And very recently, the library has been extended even further, to continue to reflect the changing ways in which students, staff and visitors want to use the space and to ensure that facilities can keep pace with the growth in student numbers.

The £11 million, four-storey project will create more study space for groups and individuals. A-floor includes collaborative research and project spaces and an exhibition area. There is a new lecture theatre and space for student societies. Living walls will continue the green theme that Norman began.

The library is open to all and more than 40,000 people pass through its doors each week: amongst them students, staff, members of the public and alumni.

As a Lancaster Graduate you can benefit from the ever-expanding resources and facilities that the library offers, both in person and virtually.

Wherever you are in the world, there are a range of online resources provided by the library for personal use. They include online lectures from worldwide experts, business magazines and thousands of scholarly journals in a wide variety of disciplines.

Those that can visit the building itself can make use of even more electronic databases and collections via dedicated computers on the ground floor. Of course, visiting alumni are also welcome to browse and read print titles too. Lancaster Graduates can join the library as alumni library members for a discounted annual fee of £30, meaning you can borrow up to ten items.

To access the library resources available to alumni online, visit this link. If you’d like to access the databases that are available through walk in access, visit the information point on the ground floor of the library.