When establishing a transnational education (TNE) campus, the temptation is often to “copy and paste”. Blueprints, policies and reading lists from the UK can be transplanted wholesale into a new postcode thousands of miles away. When we launched our campus in India, the first comprehensive international university to do so under the new University Grants Commission regulations, we deliberately resisted that approach. Our ambition was not to replicate an institution but to build a distinct academic identity rooted in place while aligned in standards.
As the site librarian tasked with shaping the campus’ information ecosystem, the past months have felt like a live experiment in cultural diplomacy. Observing our first cohort interact with the library has reinforced a core belief: while the library provides essential infrastructure in a high-density metropolis, quiet, connectivity and reliability, its role extends well beyond function. We see it as a space that encourages intellectual risk-taking, engagement with equality, diversity and inclusion objectives, and collaboration on global challenges such as the climate crisis. In a TNE context, the library must act as a bridge, where the rigour of the home institution meets the lived realities of the host nation.
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Here are three lessons we have learned about designing a library that acts as a diplomat as much as a database.
1. The library as a cultural diplomat
Libraries are powerful soft-power assets. This became clear to me during my time leading libraries at the British Council, where they functioned as neutral spaces for dialogue and trust-building. In a TNE campus, the library is often the first place where students encounter the university’s values outside the classroom.
Early on, we recognised that importing a Western canon without adaptation risked cultural dissonance. Instead, we adopted what we call contextual intelligence. Our core reading lists remain aligned with UK standards to ensure identical accreditation, but the library deliberately widens the lens around them.
In practice, this has meant curating a contextual collection that sits alongside required texts. For example, while international management students study global venture capital models, they also encounter locally grounded perspectives such as Funding Your Start-up and Other Nightmares by Dhruv Nath and Sushanto Mitra. Alongside Western economic theory, we foreground scholars such as Indian economist Raghuram Rajan. As we develop further, this approach is extending to global challenges like climate change, pairing international environmental research with scholarship and narratives from the Global South.
The aim is simple but critical: students should feel the academic weight of a Russell Group education without feeling culturally displaced.
2. The ‘one library’ reality
If cultural relevance is one risk in TNE, structural inequality is another. The familiar “mothership versus satellite” dynamic can quietly erode parity between campuses. To counter this, we work within the comprehensive structural equality framework, which recognises that inequality is often embedded in systems rather than intentions. From a project management perspective, this means treating equity as a measurable deliverable.
For the library, this translates into a “one library” strategy. A student in Delhi must have the same digital privileges as a student in Southampton. Achieving this has required intensive backend alignment, particularly around licensing and access. We renegotiated publisher contracts so that Delhi IP addresses are classified as home territory, ensuring students never encounter the “content not available in your region” barriers that commonly undermine international campuses.
In practical terms, we are not operating a regional library in Delhi NCR. We are operating the University of Southampton Library, accessible from Delhi NCR. The distinction may be subtle, but for students, it defines whether equality is aspirational or real.
3. Designing the ‘third space’
Beyond collections and access, the physical library must function as a psychological anchor. In a digital-first TNE campus, the library’s role shifts from storage to synthesis. It becomes a space for interdisciplinary exchange, collaborative work and idea development rather than silent rows of print stacks.
This demands a modular and agile design. Our library is conceived as a “third space” that can adapt quickly to changing needs. During exam periods, it supports high-density individual study. At other times, it transforms into an open venue for workshops, talks and cultural dialogue.
Visually, the space reflects our dual identity. We combined the university’s navy-blue corporate branding, signalling academic rigour, with warm, locally sourced textiles that signal welcome and belonging. This balance prevents the space from feeling like a franchised outpost and instead positions it as a shared intellectual home.
For institutions working in dense urban environments, space is always at a premium. To address this, we adopted an e-first collection strategy. Prioritising digital resources freed up floor space and allowed us to use fully modular furniture, enabling the library to breathe and evolve alongside the campus community.
Looking ahead
As the campus matures, we are consciously moving away from the idea of an outpost and towards a network. By positioning the library as a site of cultural diplomacy, we are not simply exporting education but enabling a two-way exchange of knowledge, perspective and practice. In that sense, the library becomes both symbol and mechanism of what transnational education can achieve at its best.
Anupama Saini is the librarian at the University of Southampton Delhi.
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