CURRENT TRENDS IN LIBRARY BUILDING DESIGNObjective of Study Visit to United Kingdom - August 2004

To observe and discuss with colleagues the developments and trends in the library as a physicalfacility.The site visits were to view recently completed new/refurbished academic library buildings,including the recipients of the 2002 SCONUL library design awards (for completions between1996-2000). This award is on the basis of functional design rather than purely architectural meritand covers qualities including functionality, adaptability, accessibility, choice of learning spaces,interactivity of design (between users and services), environmental suitability, safety and security,and efficiency (in space, staffing and running costs).I was particularly interested in current thinking about space norms and benchmarks for physicalfacilities. This study visit is relevant to the library’s strategic planning priorities which include acommitment to investigate and improve the physical environment at the campus libraries. Theinformation collected will provide practical details relevant to future library redevelopments at LaTrobe University.The libraries which I visited included-University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

College Lane (new building, completed 1997, SCONUL award winner)

De Havilland (new building, completed 2003)-Coventry University (Lanchester Library) (new building, completed 2000, SCONULaward winner)-Sheffield Hallam University (Adsetts Centre) (new building, completed 1996, SCONULaward winner)-Leeds Metropolitan University (refurbishment and extension, completed 2000)-King’s College London (Maughan Library & Information Services Centre)(refurbishment, completed 2002)-London School of Economics (British Library of Political and Economic Science)(refurbishment, completed 2001)I have kept detailed notes of features of each of the library buildings, collected relevant literatureand also took photographs.

Common themes

From my visit, I have identified a number of common (although not universal) themes whichcharacterise the new or refurbished library building. These are detailed below.

Terminology

The terms “library” and “learning resource centre” continue to be used, although the latter tendsto be associated with the ex polytechnic stream. Interestingly, one learning resource centre hasvery recently changed its name to library at the request of the incoming new vice-chancellor (Leeds Metropolitan).There is no use of the North American terminology “information commons” and its later manifestation “learning commons” (which also includes learning support services), and I foundthat refreshing. Instead, the libraries are characterised by banks of computers, usually termed

computer clusters, where students can access whatever they require, and beyond traditionallibrary information resources, usually via a standard university desktop configuration. In suchcases, both library and IT help are available either from a single or distributed service points. Thisis not dissimilar to the information commons concept.

Space norms

As expected, there has been no recent progress on the development of space norms or standardssince the 1996 SCONUL publication by Andrew McDonald.

Open plan principles

The buildings reflect open planning principles in their public space areas. Reasons for this aregiven as flexibility for future reconfiguration exercises, aesthetics and the assumption that themajority of present day library users have a preference for this type of scholarly and social spacelayout. This latter point has had some follow on effects – specifically the high noise levels thatnow have to be managed (and which are a cause of complaint from those who still require silentsurroundings for their work). Solutions include silent study space being located at the building perimeters and buffered by shelving, and large areas of totally enclosed silent study space.Two very interesting and different approaches to major refurbishments are Maughan Library &Information Services Centre (King’s College, London) and British Library of Political andEconomic Science (London School of Economics). Both buildings cater to the needs of approximately 8,000 students.The LSE library was totally gutted and rebuilt using open planning principles. The MaughanCentre was a heritage building and the refurbishment had to preserve many original internalfeatures, resulting in a library characterised by many small discrete areas configured with singlestudy, some computer equipped (and large enough for small groups to get together) and collectionspace. Capacity of these spaces is usually for no more than 10 - 12 readers. This appeared at leastsuperficially to provide an ideal integrated print and electronic environment, where many areas of quiet space are available and disturbing others is not a problem. Yet the level of occupancyseemed significantly lower during my visit (and apparently this is the norm) when compared withLSE, with its open environment and large and very visible zones of computer workstation space,and other study space, often some distance from collections. It may be that, at least for learningspace, many library users would rather work away from enclosed environments with limited lineof sight, and prefer (and perhaps feel safer) to be surrounded by other people and associatednoise. Thorough investigation of user preference for types of library space, and how they work insuch space is obviously a key issue in planning new layouts.

Consistency in design and layout on each floor

This is also a common theme and takes into account the need for navigational assistance innegotiating the relatively complicated library physical environment. The common model is tohave collection and study space (including a range of study space types) distributed in the sameconfiguration on each floor. Some examples are –computer space around a central atrium, and study space at the extremities of the building, with collection space between these two areas as a noise buffer (University of Coventry); –a zoning of study space, from noisy open group study at one end of the floor tosingle silent open and enclosed study space at the other (Sheffield Hallam) –group study rooms on each floor and in the same location on each floor

Access to large numbers of computer workstations

The access to a very large number of computer workstations was probably the most significantfeature in all the libraries I visited. In some libraries, this equated to one in every two or threestudy spaces being PC equipped (study space ratios ranged from 1:5 to 1:7). Overall ratios inBritish universities average one computer for every ten students, and it is evident that the library building is seen as a key location for university computers, providing access to not justinformation resources, but to the full range of university online services and resources. Apartfrom dedicated catalogue workstations, access is controlled by user log in and the desk top is thestandard university desktop configuration. Provision of such public access computers is often nota library budget responsibility. In addition, most if not all libraries I visited either had in place or were in the process of implementing wireless networks for personal laptop access.

24 hour opening (or extended opening hours as a study hall)

The majority of the libraries had implemented or were trialling long opening hours, in many cases24 hours. During extended opening (e.g. after 9pm at night) no assisted service was available,however computer equipment, the collections and self service facilities such as self checkout andself checkin machines, ensured basic needs could be met. Entrants used swipe card access, andsecurity officers were employed (e.g. LSE employed three security staff for 24 hour opening) toensure safety and security of users.Accessibility usually extended to all public areas of the library and was not restricted to specific parts e.g. a designated 24 hr area.

Self service equipment

The need to provide some basic service during the study hall opening hours is linked to thesignificant take-up of self service equipment (including for Open Reserve). All sites visited were3M installations. An interesting extension to self checkout is self checkin – even to the extent of providing a special return bin for items with some sort of exception state e.g. holds. The same 3Mmachine can be enabled to perform both functions. This checkin facility is still in trialimplementation and I am not sure of the long term success, as all returns still had to be rechecked by the library staff at the time of my visit.Self service printing and photocopying facilities were distributed on each floor, often in the samelocation on each floor, again to ease navigational difficulties. This trend moves away from themodel of provision of a dedicated photocopying space adjacent to staff assistance.University of Hertfordshire (College Lane and De Havilland libraries)In terms of self service, their approach represents one end of the spectrum, where the move to self service is the modus operandi (and a response to a very large increase in student population in avery short time, with no parallel increase in library and IT staff). This university is seen as one of the leaders in the systematic approach to self service implementation. This has been to the extentthat there is no physical lending service desk at all. All loans and returns are expected to be processed by the self service machines. The machines are located near the only staffed service point in the building, the “help desk”, where specially trained staff (but not professional level)assist with loan problems and also provide IT assistance and first level library assistance (IT andinformation specialists are available on an appointment basis). In summary the library operates ona three stage service approach and in this order 1. self help 2. help desk 3. appointment withspecialist.The self service theme is continued on each floor with provision of self help leaflets on a hugerange of library and IT areas e.g. word processing, how to print, how to photocopy etc. prominently situated on each floor. A self help laminating/binding/media preparation area is alsolocated well away from library staff assistance and a vending machine sells computer discs.