Spacey Libraries
"Life moves pretty fast...if you don't stop and look around once in a while...you could miss it."--Ferris Bueller
In Law Librarianship class, we were given the assignment of writing a memorandum in preparation for a meeting. The topic? The SOA of the law firm attended a conference where she learned another law firm had saved money by moving completely to online resources. Consequently, the once law library was in danger of being transformed into conference space.
This assignment put an interesting spin on library space. It's not just a fancy, new-millenium architectural trend to allow larger desks, luscious cafe room, and spacious window-seats: more space may be the result of a reduction in print material. Computers are shrinking in size, compared to what they once were. To test my hypothesis, I decided to explore library architecture.
The first good information source I found coincidentally supports my counter argument. The University of Chicago is expanding the Joseph Regenstein Library to house more BOOKS (yay!!) More space is necessary for print material. The university conducted a campus-wide survey to find the people who use more online databases are further drawn to print resources:
University of Chicago
Press Release
Conversely, The University of Buffalo's "University Libraries" are building a storage facility to house more books, with the intention of allowing the space to be used for study. The University of Chicago aims to provide more space to house more books, even if that includes storage facilities. Meanwhile, this university is creating a storage facility specifically to free up room for study. Please see Buffalo 's approach.
Lastly, I found a public library who annexed more space. The Jay Johnson Public Library of Quinter, Kansas. Jay Johnson raised funds to meld the small library with the strip mall next door. The details, from making the library ecologically responsible to user-friendly, show how spaces not originally intended to be libraries have amazing potential!
In Law Librarianship class, we were given the assignment of writing a memorandum in preparation for a meeting. The topic? The SOA of the law firm attended a conference where she learned another law firm had saved money by moving completely to online resources. Consequently, the once law library was in danger of being transformed into conference space.
This assignment put an interesting spin on library space. It's not just a fancy, new-millenium architectural trend to allow larger desks, luscious cafe room, and spacious window-seats: more space may be the result of a reduction in print material. Computers are shrinking in size, compared to what they once were. To test my hypothesis, I decided to explore library architecture.
The first good information source I found coincidentally supports my counter argument. The University of Chicago is expanding the Joseph Regenstein Library to house more BOOKS (yay!!) More space is necessary for print material. The university conducted a campus-wide survey to find the people who use more online databases are further drawn to print resources:
University of Chicago
Press Release
Conversely, The University of Buffalo's "University Libraries" are building a storage facility to house more books, with the intention of allowing the space to be used for study. The University of Chicago aims to provide more space to house more books, even if that includes storage facilities. Meanwhile, this university is creating a storage facility specifically to free up room for study. Please see Buffalo 's approach.
Lastly, I found a public library who annexed more space. The Jay Johnson Public Library of Quinter, Kansas. Jay Johnson raised funds to meld the small library with the strip mall next door. The details, from making the library ecologically responsible to user-friendly, show how spaces not originally intended to be libraries have amazing potential!
posted by Gwyneth at 7:03 PM
1 Comments:
Oh Oh Oh so cool! We are studying in our management class about Library as Third Space, and it is wonderful to see the public library you mentioned doing just that! I am kinda getting over the fact that libraries should look a certain way, have a certain aura of the Greatness of Books. By no means am I saying stick a chuck-e-cheese on the outside, but I really feel it should reflect/be within the community. The long ago idea of a library being something that a community has to advertise itself isnt so much nowadays. If a library doesnt meld with its community, it might frighten it off, making it just wasted space, IMO.
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