This brief paper does not intend to provide a guide to designing an academic library, nor does it set out to provide a prescription for the creating of a learning space. There are many excellent guides to such endeavours, and readers will find much to stimulate their thinking elsewhere in this volume. Rather, it seeks to set out a view of the changing nature of the research library and the opportunities that are presented through this evolution to better support the learning needs of today's and tomorrow's students.