Library Design Basics

When I was a little girl, the card catalog system was THE thing.  Whether visiting a public Library or my school Library, I couldn’t locate a specific book without heading over to that large piece of heavy wood furniture with all its tiny drawers and metal hook-shaped pulls.  Simply put, that piece of furniture fascinated me; still does to this day when I come across one.  But time and technology eventually tag teamed that sweet relic and made it completely obsolete.  Which leads me to the evolution of the design of Libraries. 

What worked then just doesn’t cut it now.  And what worked several centuries ago stopped working long before our card catalogs began to disappear.  So where are we headed?  How do we design for the future?  How do we remain relevant in a world that seems to question our very existence now that we have digital information at our fingertips any time we want?  While I don’t think we can know exactly where we’re headed in another hundred years, I do believe we can make small evolutions as we go and be open to change as change begins to happen.

Our ways of accepting and working with information are changing dramatically, which is why Libraries are actually arguably gaining importance as far as I can see from a designer’s perspective.  And currently our Libraries have the tough job of providing large ranges of space options to meet the needs of an array of patrons.  We must now design Libraries that give people space to work, have meetings, learn and even relax.  When applied well, the Library becomes the central hub of a community and for now, that’s what people seem to want and even need. 

For the most part, the modern Library can be defined by six major parts (according to Libraries – A Design Manual):

1. Entry Way
2. Circulation
3. Reference
4. Staff
5. Collections
6. Seating

When coaching students in my Off the Shelf Library Design Academy, I break this down into four generalized categories like Adults, Youth, Public Space and Back of House.  But in order to explore these more fully from this particular text, I’m going to focus on their breakdown.  They have also listed other key components for reference as you can see here:

• Distribution of materials
• User Travel
• Delineation of different patron groups
• Security

Mostly, Library design revolves around two major elements, function of space and adjacencies of those spaces.  These can be used in design pretty typically as most day-to-day operations of Libraries are the same or pretty close.  So again, for the use of the materials from this text, these rules should apply in most Library design situations.

So let’s break down the key spaces.  We’ll start with the Entry:

• ENTRY WAY – Typically connects the circulation area and the public spaces.
• CIRCULATION – this is considered the “central point of control” and also becomes the focal point of your space.
• REFERENCE – You want to open up clear lines of sight and remember that these points, which should be scattered thoughtfully throughout your building, will be your key areas of information.
• STAFF – These areas typically include your office spaces, work rooms, any technical spaces and all other back-of-house operations.
• COLLECTION – Your collections house a lot of material types.  Shelving must be versatile and comes in single-faced and double-faced options.  “Capacity assumes a shelf filled 80% to factor in room for growth.”  With that in mind, “capacity of one shelf of materials can be calculated using the following formula:

Shelf Capacity = Length of Shelf x Media-Specific Shelving Capacity factor (vol/in)

Shelving Unit Capacity = Shelf Capacity x Number of Shelves (multiply by 2 for double-face shelves)

Standard shelf width is typically 3’-0”.  A typical Stack is usually seven shelves high and reference shelves are often two to three high.  Shelving design can depend on building codes, the structure of the building itself and the shelving system.

• SEATING – The trend right now and, in my professional opinion, for years to come is hospitality over formality.  This means that reading areas should be small and informal, groupings need to be flexible and adjustable, and also easy to move around or quickly re-group.  You also want to maintain many types of seating.
• CARRELS – One thing I haven’t mentioned but I feel should be covered, is carrels.  Traditionally they were large, individual and very heavy.  They took up an awful lot of space and while giving a since of privacy, they also created isolation.  Since then, the uses for those spaces have become far more versatile and obviously much smaller.  There’s still a need for individual study/reading/work spaces, but now they don’t consume so much coveted real estate.  Computer tables and tablet arm chairs have taken their place in big ways. 

One very useful and highly-requested option I’ve used in my own projects is the systems carrel.  I’ve mentioned these many times but for those of you who are not familiar, this is a combination of cubicle walls but at a much lower wall height built in threes typically.  Each “cubicle” has an individual seat and an individual desktop which creates a private space but with a much smaller footprint.  See image below:

 Planning for Growth

When planning for growth, keep in mind that there are two types of spaces; Assignable and Non-Assignable.  Assignable spaces should be divided accordingly:

USER SPACE – 20%

MEETING SPACE – 10%

PUBLIC SERVICE/STAFF – 20%

COLLECTION – 50%

Non-Assignable spaces usually consist of building service, circulation, mechanical and general operation and will often take up anywhere from 25 – 40% of space.

These are good references for space planning.  We'll explore more of this next week.  But in the meantime keep in mind that “efforts toward maintaining relevance in the digital world differ from Library to Library and are dependent on the specific issues of the community it serves.”  This means planning your space for present as well as future use must be meticulously devised so that no detail is left unexplored and all possibilities for the future are considered ahead of time.

Again, we'll talk about the next steps next week.  Until then, stay connected by joining your colleagues that have joined my DIY Library Design group.  Ask me anything.  I'm happy to help in any way that I can. 

Join the Conversations Today - DIY Library Design Facebook Group