New name for John Rylands University Library to prevent “confusion”

The University of Manchester has been forced to change the name of John Rylands University Library because the current name “often causes confusion for staff, students and visitors.”

From July, the building will be called ‘The University of Manchester Library’. It is hoped that this will make it easier for students to “identify” the gothic John Rylands Library on Deansgate.

Designed by Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her multi-millionaire husband, the John Rylands Library was built in 1899 and in its collections boasts numerous medieval manuscripts as well as the “St John Fragment”, believe to be the oldest New Testament document still in existence.

The “Unlocking the Rylands project” took place in the last decade in a bid to conserve the Grade I listed building. The project cost £17 million and led to the Library receiving numerous awards; including the prestigious RIBA award in 2008.

The decision to rename the library on Oxford Road was taken as part of The Library’s New Directions Strategy; which looked at branding issues related the University’s libraries.