One of the interesting aspects of many of the australian university libraries I have visited is that they have a designated separate provision for researchers and academics. In UWA it’s called the Scholars Centre and at QUT it was the Research Centre. These areas are often linked to services like ILL and archives and provide bookable desks, lockers etc and at QUT, for example, direct access to liaison staff. Some useful ideas, I think.
Here is a picture of an “Ibis tree” – well a tree which had a lot of Ibis roosting in it anyway!