Library
KAUST's library is designed as a meeting place for people and ideas.
Behind the modernist building's stone-glass façade and diamond curtain wall, librarians provide ready access to all types of scientific information, from print publications, to e-books and e-journals, to software and multimedia, to data sets and working papers.
Their goal is to provide the best traditional services of colleting and sharing formal science publications in all their formats but also moving beyond this to new proactive information services in science ibrarianship and knowledge and learning space management.
KAUST librarians will work closely with faculty, students, and information technology staff to revolutionize the way that scientific information and data are collected, organized, and shared. The KAUST Library will provide support for "life cycle management" of scientific data and for improving scholarly communications in the sciences.
The KAUST Library emphasizes support for "e-science" through its digital repository, web-based services, data curation, and full exploitation of the University's extraordinary IT infrastructure. The complete spectrum and life cycle of scientific information produced or needed by faculty and students will be made available and managed by the KAUST Library.
The overall library collection, concentrating primarily on science, engineering, and technology, is primarily digital, with a moderately sized print collection. The library will open with a collection of more than 25,000 books in digital and print format and subscribe to 2,000 journals (including 1,500 e-journals) and 10 online research databases. By maturity, in 2013, the library will have more than 80,000 book titles and 3,000 journal subscriptions, as well as a large digital repository of data sets and other types of scientific information.
KAUST is supplementing its local collection through partnerships with information service providers and other libraries worldwide to provide access to any information, regardless of its location, needed by faculty and students.
The three-story, 13,890-square-meter facility includes seating for 400 people and shelving for more than half a million printed volumes. A variety of public workstations, collaborative learning spaces, and quiet study areas are located throughout the building. A full-service copy center will allow users to copy, scan, and manage their research documents in any format.
The KAUST library also features two distance-learning classrooms, a learning commons, exhibit and display areas, media project rooms, and a 64-seat café.
Visit the KAUST Library Website