21st Century Library Design: A Thought Provoking Program

It would have been a standing room crowd at 21st Century Library Design today if the rules allowed standing around the walls of the room in the Minneapolis Conference Center. Because of the municipal rules, dozens of people were asked to leave. They missed a program on library space utilization that included many good and challenging ideas.

Kimberly Bolan of Kimberly Bolan and Associates and Marc Ciccarelli of Studio Techne Architects began the session with a discussion of trends. Ciccarelli said changing needs in society pressures libraries to remodel their public space. It is space that people love because it remains uncommercialized in a very branded society. Bolan said the space often needs a makeover based on customer needs. She then proceeded to discuss Ten Things About What People Want:

• Comfortable places (soft furniture, fireplaces, lights)
• Meeting rooms and study rooms
• Supported services (self-check out, drive-up windows, outside pick-up lockers)
• Food service (Vending is more practical than coffee shops)
• Multi-functional children’s areas (with special sized doors, murals)
• Teen friendly areas
• Retail-oriented merchandising (bookstore-like open face shelving)
• Technology (unobtrusive stations, wireless patios, RFD checkout)
• Good way finding (more than just good signs – good paths)
• Sustainable environment (energy efficiency, green materials, pollution free)

Bolan said libraries should consider swapping reference and teen spaces. She also said that libraries need several children’s spaces, as what serves preschool children does not serve third graders well.

Pamela Vander-Ploeg and Michelle Boisvenue-Fox of Kent District Library, Michigan (you need a compound name to work at KDL) told about the extensive remodeling of their systems branch libraries. Much of their portion of the program was show and tell and included some interesting ideas:

• Buy trendy inexpensive furniture and plan to replace it to keep a contemporary feel
• Have teens go on a buying spree at a music store to update the CD collection
• Put neon open signs on the library so people can see whether it is open before parking and getting out of their cars
• Make your reading areas into living rooms, dens, conservatories. Have comfortable seats and lots of greenery.
• Have lots of electrical outlets.
• Have book displays on side tables. Train various staff members to make book displays to get maximum staff input.
• Watch HDTV for design ideas.

Cathy Hakala-Ausperk of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, Ohio (even the library has a compound name) was the last speaker. She told what her library did with its expanded 40,000 square feet (it connected to a YMCA that it took over). (I hope I got the size right – it was humongous.) It is beyond what most public libraries have even considered:

• Sign information is incorporated into murals.
• All the display cases are movable and reset in new locations to change patterns.
• The reference desk is gone. Reference librarians rove and have small computer stations.
• The circulation desk is gone. Staff help people learn self-checkout.
• There is an office supply vending machine with pens, writable CDs, etc).
• Vending machines have only healthy items and the library gets a share of the profits.
• There is an ATM in the library.
• Besides programs and organization meetings, the meeting rooms can host birthday parties, weddings, and funerals.

This was a very thought provoking program. I know I want us to get neon signs. I have to think about some of the rest of this.