Diary of an Education Officer
Entry 02
2 October 2025

If you clocked the Pokémon reference in the title, gold star – the library’s new "Nook" has officially appeared! It’s a quiet corner at the back of level 2 of the library, with comfy seating and shelves of fiction and casual reading – basically the perfect spot to unwind, take a breather, and forget about deadlines for a bit.

I got the chance to be at the official launch (I even cut the ribbon y’all !!), and it was a lovely moment to celebrate how important these kinds of projects are. For me, it ties directly to my manifesto: building a culture that puts wellbeing first. Spaces like this show that wellbeing matters just as much as academics, and that uni life should give us the room to connect, recharge, and feel part of something bigger than just our courses.

The SU has been backing this project for a while now, with previous officers helping toward getting funding approved. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes stuff you wouldn’t necessarily expect officers to be involved in, but it’s pretty cool that we are! Our Activities and Sport Officers sit on the Alumni Fund Committee, and our SU President sits on the Student Experience Fund Committee, so the student voice was right there when those decisions were being made.

Something I find amazing is that the design came from a student – Annie Tang – through a competition run with placement students from Architecture & Civil Engineering. On top of that, there’s some lovely artwork from students in the space too. The collaboration in this project is what makes the Nook feel like it really belongs to us!

I'm excited to see how y'all use the space – with all the furniture being moveable, it's really functional and can be used for anything from independent quiet moments to book clubs led by our student groups! And of course, you also can do a grab 'n' go dealio, as you can borrow books from the nook just as you would with everything else in the library. It really does make reading for pleasure more accessible, which is so great to see.

So next time you’re in the library, go have a lil' look. Grab a book, switch off for a while, or just enjoy the fact that the Book Nook is here – a cosy little corner that’s ours, and for everyone <3

With love,
Helen xoxo