David Sabsay
Library Consultant

FAQs: FRANKLY ANSWERED QUERIES

Why are public libraries so difficult to design?

A noted architect who has dealt with many types of structures declared that public libraries are the most complex buildings to design except, perhaps, for hospitals. This is apparent if one analyses the three major operating elements in any building: users, materials, and staff. (See the table below.)

Hospitals house numerous users, but they have substantial staffs to serve them. Schools also have large numbers of users (i.e., students), and also comparably large staffs (teachers, administrators, and others). Office buildings exist principally to accommodate staff (employees) and have relatively few users or visitors. None of these types of buildings house large quantities of materials. Factories typically do have large stores of raw and finished material, but--due to automation--relatively few employees, and negligible numbers of users or visitors.

Libraries, by contrast, deal with both large numbers of users and large quantities of materials, yet have modest size staffs. Staff members must manage the buildings and collections while serving the users, many of whom require intensive assistance.

Libraries are visited by more people than virtually any other public buildings, and more than most retail outlets. Users range from toddlers to senior citizens, and reflect the full socio-economic makeup of the community.

Because public libraries are open to all and maintain long hours, they also attract persons in need of shelter, or who just want to pass the time. Unfortunately, they also draw persons of an antisocial bent, who present danger to the building, the collections, and sometimes to the staff and the public, requiring special precautions.

In addition to providing intensive public service, the staff is also responsible for developing the collections, for displaying the books, periodicals, and audio-visual materials for maximum public access, and for protecting them from theft and vandalism.

Perhaps no other institution has been so directly impacted by or has so embraced computer technology and modern telecommunication systems. Libraries not only utilize such technology to a vast extent for their own operations, they are looked to to provide the public with access to the equipment and the communication lines--and frequently with orientation and instruction in their use as well.

In accommodating all of these functions, needs, and concerns, a library building must be inviting and comfortable, yet consist of impervious material and durable furnishings; it must present open shelves, but protect the contents; it must offer a multiplicity of services, yet be easy to use; and it must be minutely planned down to the inch, and still be flexible and expandable.

For all of these reasons, it is perhaps understandable that so few public libraries are totally successful, and most have one or more serious design flaws.

What are the most common errors in library design?

Certain major errors occur over and over in the design of public library buildings. The most common and serious ones include the following:

• Overly complex layout. Too many separate rooms, partitions, and other barriers to the free flow of people and materials is a fundamental flaw found in most libraries, leading to many of the other problems listed below. While they are complex institutions, the key to proper library design is to keep it simple. This is difficult to do, because designers have a tendency to create a separate space for each function rather than take the time to figuring out how they can be effectively integrated.

• Lack of visual control. Walls, partitions, and poorly located bookstacks frequently prevent staff from seeing all portions of public areas. Without such total visual control, it is difficult to prevent the occurrence of antisocial behavior, from minor disturbances to vandalism and even acts of sexual perversion.

• Lack of flexibility. Increased usage, growth of collections, new technologies, added services, and revised operating procedures are some of reasons why libraries become obsolete when the original design is too inflexible to permit easy modification.

• Poor materials handling. Even a small library with an annual circulation of only, say 100,000, will deal with 100 tons of items in the course of a year: checking them out and back in, and reshelving them. Too often little thought is given to how this may be done most efficiently.

• Inadequate wiring. With the advent of computers as ubiquitous devices throughout libraries, lack of access to telecommunication wiring as well as properly shielded power sources has become critical in many buildings. Even newer ones often fail to provide for future needs of this sort.

• Inadequate lighting. Appropriate lighting levels for everything from browsing to reading to service desk activities ought to be a prime requisite for libraries, but too often is found wanting.

• Inadequate HVAC. Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems frequently prove to be inadequate for small rooms and isolated spaces.

• Acoustical problems. Libraries are no longer the totally quiet refuges that they once were. Still, effective acoustical treatment should not be ignored, as it frequently is, nor should areas that generate a great deal of sound be located adjacent to ones which require some degree of silence.

• Impractical furniture. Tables that are too high or too narrow, chairs that are too flimsy or too heavy, unsightly and vulnerable computer cabling--these are some of the many furniture and equipment flaws to be found even in some otherwise well-designed structures.

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Why retain a professional librarian as a building consultant ?

A qualified library building consultant will have a strong grounding in the theory and practice of public librarianship, and the principles of sound library planning. He or she will have worked at most aspects of library operations, from basic circulation tasks to sophisticated reference service and collection development procedures. In most cases the consultant will have administered one or more library buildings. Finally, the building consultant will have been intimately involved in the designing of several libraries, and, equally important, will have followed up on how well the completed buildings perform.

With this knowledge and experience, the professional librarian is uniquely qualified to provide counsel in all aspects of library facility development, from a needs assessment to development of a building program, and on to assistance in designing and equipping the new or expanded building, helping to avoid the serious errors that plague so many of them.

To be sure, there are some library administrators who have the necessary background to act as their own building specialists (and may actually be consultants themselves). To be successful in this specialized area, they must have been involved in several building projects from inception to completion and trial.

There are many architects whose projects have included a number of public libraries (some even specialize in them), and these are normally the best ones to employ--provided their projects have proven successful and have few serious flaws. However, their success in each case will depend upon the thoroughness and accuracy of the planning data and guidance which is provided to them.

The best buildings result from a strong team approach, involving library staff and administration, library consultant, architects and their engineers, and local planning and building officials. Communities which are prepared to invest millions of dollars in a new or improved library deserve nothing less.

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