Thank you for the insightful discussion. Libraries play an important role in communities, and good design is critical to meeting user needs. I'm afraid I don't have enough context about your local libraries to comment specifically. The most important thing is for libraries to continually assess how to best serve their communities through flexible, user-centered spaces and services.

1. Award Winning Libraries
Ted Mulvey and Rebecca Kilbreath
LIS 770
4/26/2010

2. 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)

3. 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)

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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

8. Thompson Library
• Three reading rooms (either designated as
quiet or collaborative)
• Group study rooms
• Individual study rooms
• Conference rooms
• Digital Union (Information Commons)

9. Thompson Library
• Gallery devoted to art and special collection
exhibits
• Complete wireless access and public
computers
• Café
• Technology bar

10. Additional Pictures

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. Additional Pictures

16. 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.

17. 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!

18. 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

19. Salt Lake City Public Library

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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.

23. La Grande Bibliothèque, Montreal
• 1300 armchairs
• 350 computer stations
• 44 music stations
• 50 video stations
• 4 lecture rooms
• 4 training rooms
• 21 meeting rooms.

25. 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.

26. 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?