A library interior design guide for architects, designers, and library planners that addresses the functionality needs of staff and design appeal for different age groups, covering signage, traffic, furnishings, materials, colors, lighting, and acoustics.
Through the real-life examples in this book, readers will learn how the successful modification of existing library buildings or the creation of new buildings requires the active participation and effective collaboration of library board members, administrators, librarians, and architects.
This book discusses the selection, evaluation, and purchase of furniture and equipment for libraries. It examines the arrangement of the interior to update and illuminate earlier writings, and helps those spending even small amounts for library furniture and equipment to do so more wisely.
The interior design language of the 21st century is the language of retail, and libraries must be fluent to be successful. Most patrons are unaware of the variety of services and offerings that their local library can provide. Rightly or wrongly, library patrons expect robust merchandising, easily accessible spaces and self-directed way finding. Library Space Planning: A PLA Guide is a brief and to-the-point guide that will help you to understand these ideals and recreate them in your library. In addition, you will learn how to improve the functionality of your space in the short, medium and long-term, and discover how libraries can use the ideas herein to aid patrons in discovery, discernment and delivery.
Focusing on the practical issues which need to be addressed by anyone involved in library design, here Ken Worpole offers his renowned expertise to architects, planners, library professionals, students, local government officers and members interested in creating and sustaining successful library buildings and services. Contemporary Library Architecture: A Planning and Design Guide features: a brief history of library architecture an account of some of the most distinctive new library designs of the 20th & 21st centuries an outline of the process for developing a successful brief and establishing a project management team a delineation of the commissioning process practical advice on how to deal with vital elements such as public accessibility, stock-holding, ICT, back office functions, children’s services, co-location with other services such as learning centres and tourist & information services an sustainability in depth case studies from around the world, including public and academic libraries from the UK, Europe and the US full colour illustrations throughout, showing technical details and photographs. This book is the ultimate guide for anyone approaching library design.
Through its discussions on planning, using space, and selecting equipment and furnishings, this book, first published in 1988, provides guidance for those who have little or no experience in designing a facility for a special library - one that serves a corporation, government agency, non-profit organization, professional society, or a special subject-oriented library located in an academic institution or public library. Its text is stimulating yet sound, and will serve not only librarians planning new facilities but also those involved in remodelling or renovating existing facilities. The appendices contain descriptions and layouts of four typical libraries, each showing the result of careful, creative planning.
The life expectancy of a typical library is 20 or so years. This useful life can be greatly extended, however, with extensive planning and an informed choice of versatile, adaptable furnishings. Everything you need to know to accomplish this feat can be found within the pages of this volume. Professional, experienced advice and suggestions take the library designer through the entire design process. This book provides a plethora of information from the planning stages through the finished media center—to allow any librarian or architect to make informed, cost-effective decisions. The work begins with the creation of the development team, explains terminology employed by furniture manufacturers and the conventions used for furnishing measurements. Topics covered include the installation of adequate (and stable) shelving; user-friendly seating arrangements; and plans for satisfying ever-increasing technological requirements. Appendices contain a number of checklists covering such areas as the tasks and responsibilities of the development team; evaluations of various work stations and seating options; ADA surveys; and electronic planning. Detailed diagrams and photographs from completed designs are also included. From colors to work spaces and furniture composition, Tish Murphy’s twenty years of experience in the field provides the reader with firsthand knowledge regarding what works and what doesn’t in the world of library furnishings.