Space Planning

Does your library entrance draw people inside? Once inside, what makes people take notice? Can retail space planning ideas help you create an inviting library space? This section will help you plan and design your library space to create a welcoming, healthy, safe and accessible environment.

Web Sites

  • Design Thinking for Libraries: A ToolKit for Patron-Centered Design
    • Probably needs a description
  • BuildingLibraries and Library Additions: A Selected Annotated Bibliography (ALA)
    • Includes photo galleries, bookless libraries, green libraries, and e-learning opportunities.
  • American Library Association: Physical space
    • The 19th century library had book storage at its center, the transformed library is centered around the user experience. The transformed library is not just an architectural statement, bur a re-conceptualization of the library as physical space to reflect new functions and the new forms that follow. Flexible space design, information commons, and idea boxes are all examples.
  • Library Construction and Renovation
    • For over fifty years, the Medical Library Association has been documenting and promoting reinventions of our libraries through article series, articles on specific projects, and surveys. Much of this literature describes the construction of new facilities primarily designed to house paper collections, which reflects the dramatic increases in health sciences publishing. More recently, there is less new construction and more renovation of existing facilities, which reflects the transformation of libraries from largely passive repositories into dynamic, collaborative environments.

Books/Book Chapters

Library Leadership Management Association. (2011). Building blocks for planning functional library space (3rd ed.). Chicago : Lanham, Md.: American Library Association ; Scarecrow Press.

Dancik, D., Shroder, Emelie Jensen, & Library Administration Management Association. Functional Space Requirements Committee. (1995). Building blocks for library space : Functional guidelines. Chicago: American Library Association, Library Administration and Management Association, Buildings and Equipment Section, Functional Space Requirements Committee.

Stewart, C. (2010). The academic library building in the digital age : A study of construction, planning, and design of new library space. Chicago, Ill.: Association of College and Research Libraries.

Buschman, J., & Leckie, G. J. (2007). The library as place: History, community, and culture. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited.