Award Winning Libraries

Ted Mulvey and Rebecca KilbreathLIS 770

4/26/2010

Lockwood

• Design is an imperative in the shift from selling products to selling experiences. (1)

• Roles across organization must be incorporated into strategic planning. (2)

• Incorporate data from prototypes and customer opinions to respond to new/emerging market needs. (2)

• Design is a source of competitive advantage and catalyst of change, either in products or direction of organization. (3)

• Design strategy must have big-picture perspective with solid data to back it up that in turn supports corporate strategy. (7)

Lockwood, continued• Design innovation should be pursued in conjunction with exploration

of user desirability (human factor, or, what motivates consumer behavior?), technical feasibility (how can new technologies be harnessed to make a product/service be meaningful to user?), and business viability (Is it aligned with our objectives?) (8)

• The right strategy enables brands to meaningfully connect with target customers across a breadth of products or services. Design strategy is informed by three elements: a deep understanding of the values, attitudes, and behavior of the target customer, the nature of the company’s values, essence, and character, and the time-based trends that serve as the backdrop to the product or service experience. (10)

• Create the right brand language for each unique brand and target customer at a specific point in time. This creates relevancy which establishes meaning and creates a backbone that is flexible and may be leveraged over time. (10)

Academic Library Design Strategies

• Facilities play a key role in enrollment decision of student.• Today’s library is an information catalyst. It is the only

centralized location that combines new technology with old.• Services and resources need to be transparent to user; one-

stop-shop for all needs.• Flexible in meeting changing space needs.• Base hours on when students do work as much as possible.• Don’t separate from classroom experience. Should be logical

extension of classroom.

Design Strategies, continued• Make student feel like they are engaging in scholarship; be part of a

scholarly community that is bigger than them but to which they also contribute.

• Seamless flow of learning and inquiry between traditional spaces and learning spaces. Seamless flow between group work to individual study. Faculty/student interaction.

• Design space with students/faculty in mind, not operations.• Learning/information commons model• Concept of library as place with librarian acting as facilitator of

learning, not gatekeeper to knowledge.• Support learning and institutional mission. Have a space where “time

on task” is encouraged.• Multiuse facilities a must.

Ohio State University: Thompson Library

• Featured in 2010 Library Design Showcase, part of American Libraries publication.

• Won 2009 James B. Recchie Design Award• Closed for construction beginning in 2006; part

of a three year renovation.• Seven story concrete facing completely

removed and replaced with glass windows.• Former mechanical room on top floor reclaimed

as reading room and event center.

Thompson Library

• $109 million renovation and expansion• Faculty and student focus groups• Intentional design for flexible space• 1,800 seats for study• Collaboration between faculty, administration,

librarians, graphic designers, and architects

Thompson Library

• Three reading rooms (either designated as quiet or collaborative)

• Group study rooms• Individual study rooms• Conference rooms• Digital Union (Information Commons)

Thompson Library

• Gallery devoted to art and special collection exhibits

• Complete wireless access and public computers

• Café• Technology bar

Additional Pictures

Duke University: Perkins/Bostock Library Complex

• Featured prominently in Learning Spaces, a book that discusses designing academic space

• LEED certified in 2009• Renovation begun in 2003, completed in 2008• Original façade retained; new windows added

to allow for more light• 122, 275 square feet added during renovation

Perkins/Bostock Library Complex

• Linked multiple libraries with Pavilion, a café and event space

• 9 group study rooms• 7 quiet reading rooms• Seating for over 500 users• Technology access regardless of location or

computer device

Perkins/Bostock Library Complex

• Based on information commons model. Technology is integrated into traditional library functions, with librarians taking on an increasingly instructive/consultative role and fostering information literacy.

• From focus groups and LibQual+ feedback, learned that students and faculty wanted integrated open, light space with technology.

Perkins/Bostock Library Complex

• Cross collaboration between campus departments, librarians, and design team.

• Tried to balance library role as acquirer and preserver of collections with user-centered service-rich role that could respond to changing user patterns and technological changes.

• Create a seamless flow from one learning area into the next. Design also needed to be responsive and flexible to changing needs and times.

• Designed with built pedagogy in mind.

Additional Pictures

Public Library Design• Between 1997 and 2007 the Akron-Summit County

Public library system replaced or renovated 16 libraries, including a major renovation to their downtown main library branch.

• Back in 1997, the libraries hosted 1.8 million visitors annually. By 2007, the libraries hosted 3.1 million—an astounding 68 percent increase. The number of items borrowed also skyrocketed from 3.7 million in 1998 to nearly 6 million items in 2008.

Trends in Public Library Design

• Good library design serves the facility’s mission—and leads to an increase in use by patrons.

• Key areas of growth in recent years: – Green Building/Retrofitting• LEED Certification

– Children’s Section of the library• Scaled down, ramped up

– The development of teen-specific areas• See the first floor for a perfect example!

Salt Lake City Public Library

• Thomas Gale/Library Journal Library of the Year award for 2006

• Opened in 2003• 240,000 square feet• Budget: $75 million• Collection: 500,000 at main branch, with room

to grow• More than doubled previous space

Salt Lake City Public Library

Salt Lake City Public Library

• Where Citizens Practice Democracy…• More than 1000 groups meet at SLCPL• Exceptional features• Serves the mission/program requirements of

the library• A hit with locals

La Grande Bibliothèque, Montreal

• AIA/ALA Library Building Award 2007• Opened in 2005• Six Stories, 33,000 square meters• Budget: $97.6 million• Two Unique Collections totaling four million

items

La Grande Bibliothèque, Montreal

• Large circulation and reference collection• The National Collection—reference only

collection by and about Quebec and its citizens

• Community/civic space including reading and working areas, exhibition areas, an auditorium, a conference center, a children’s section, and a software and language library.

La Grande Bibliothèque, Montreal

• 1300 armchairs• 350 computer stations• 44 music stations• 50 video stations• 4 lecture rooms• 4 training rooms• 21 meeting rooms.

The future of public library design…

• Challenges related to planning libraries of the future include: – Ever-changing materials formats– Estimating space needs in an increasingly digital

environment– The popularity of gaming at the library– Baby Boomer population is aging; will likely need

programs catered to their unusual life experience– Evolving nature of library as community commons

Sannwald, William W. "Designing Libraries for Customers." Library Administration & Management. 21, no. 3 (Summer 2007): 131-138.

Questions?

• Can you give examples of good design at your local library? What works—or what doesn’t?

• Don’t get us started on Rebecca Crown! hat could Dominican do to improve its academic library?