LSE Library: The British Library of Political and Economic Science

I can only assume that the architects who designed this building had never been to a library before. That is the only explanation I can find for the bafflingly disfunctional design of this library.It is exrtremely inconventient to use, does not offer enough study spaces and the ones it does offer do not have the variety needed.And most of all, this library is very loud. The open staircase design in the middle with a loud elevator running through, the vents everywhere... you can not find one quite place in this building, and trust me, I have tried.As punishment for their poor work, I would like to make the architects work from this building for the rest of their lives.

The place is good for studies and unlike UCL there’s always seat to sit. However, their fancy looking stairs is terrible for knees and back. It just look fancy no practicality.

A fantastic library to read, study and research! Be prepared to spend lots of time here, especially nearing to exams!

This is perhaps one of the most badly designed staircase I've ever walk on, it actually hurts your legs. The printers has never worked properly once during the entire year I spent there, what a shame.

It’s beautiful from an architectural perspective but that’s the extend of the positive things I can say about it as a LSE student.The library has awful seating arrangements, with too much space wasted for a spiral stairway that is uncomfortable to walk on because it doesn’t reflect normal strides (I.e. you have to take weird strides to go down the stairs, swapping between single and double steps). There is insufficient studying space and the air feels very stale. Not all desks have outlets so it can be a bit of a hunger game to find one that does.Overall, there are much better places to study and the library is ill-suited for purpose.

Usually there isn't much space or computers but it's usually possible to get a regular study desk. I generally try to avoid the LSE library. You can feel the stress during exams. The bathrooms are insufficient and awful.It's nice that there is a lot of designated silent study space on various floors, and the library is absolutely gorgeous. Can be a pain to walk up and down stairs, but overall it’s a OK place. Best to just go once to see it but not make it a habit.

Awful ‘library’. The silent zones are never silent due to poor architectural decisions which allow sound to travel across the whole building. Probably the worst library I’ve ever been in (Birmingham library is good guys, go visit)

Extreme poor use of space. The purpose of a university library is to provide study spaces for students. The spiraling staircases are not only a waste of space but also make the journey upward unnecessarily difficult and time wasting. Just imagine how much more spaces we would have if the architect’s main focus was actually on the utility of the structure.