SLA Design Award 2012 Winners

The winner of the SLA Library Design Award 2012 is The Duston SchoolThe SLA Library Design Award is sponsored by Demco Interiors

The winner of the SLA Library Design Award 2012, is The Duston School, Northamptonshire, a Business, Enterprise and Science Specialist College of 1,300 students. Runners up in the awards were (in alphabetical order); Cheltenham College and Front Lawn Junior School, Havant.

The winning library was announced in conjunction with the SLA School Librarian of the Year Award at the School Libraries Celebration Day. The day highlights the impact of a great school librarian and a well-designed library on learning and teaching.

Representatives from the three school libraries shortlisted for the design award were guests on the day. Each made their own presentation before the winner was announced and presented with their award by Brian Selznick, author and illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Julie Ricketts, Business Enterprise and Hub Task Group Co-ordinator at The Duston School said: ÔÇ£We didn’t really have that many students through the door before the re-design, and now we have more than 3,000 student visits every week! It has had a huge impact on how the students use the space – the redesign has been amazing. Winning the award gives recognition to the team that worked on the redesign of the library. The students are really enthusiastic about our library and will be delighted to know that we have won this award for one of the best designed school libraries in the country.ÔÇØ

The finalists were selected by a judging panel after an in-depth assessment of all the outstanding submissions across a set of design guidelines including innovation, creativity and resourcefulness, followed by visits to all the shortlisted schools and interviews with the school librarians.

This is the second year that Demco Interiors has sponsored the award. Scott Grant, General Manager, said: ÔÇ£So, whilst the ink is not even dry on 2012 awards, I’ll close off by making an impassioned plea to you to cajole your colleagues, friends and fellow professionals, who may be in the middle of the design process for their own library, to seriously consider supporting this award. It is all part of the long an intensive process of championing the library in today’s environment.ÔÇØ

Citations and images for each of three finalists can be found at www.sla.org.

Vox pops of the finalists talking about school libraries can be seen at www.youtube.com/demcointeriors.

Entry for the SLA Library Design Award 2013 is now open. Entry forms and guidelines are available at www.sla.org.uk.