Designing and Space Planning for Libraries: A Behavioral Guide

Design and space planning for libraries is intended for librarians, members of the board, college administrators, corporate managers, and even professionals such as interior designers and architects.  

All too often, libraries are erected either as functional or aesthetic Interior designers and architects err on the side of aesthetics, playing with diamond, triangular, or circular-shaped arrangements that destroy the workability and flow of the space. 

The idea for this web site originated in a series of Space Planning and Practical Design Seminars, which Aaron Cohen Associates, Ltd. conducted at universities across the country as part of a post-graduate program of continuing education.  One set of seminars was geared for library administrators, to introduce librarians to the technicalities of planning and design so that they could better understand, and even control, a process with which many had to contend with on a continuing basis . 

The objective of our efficiency research led us to a deeper understanding of the research / workspace environment, ways to test plans, and options to maximize library space.

To say that these experiences became a learning process for us is a major understatement.  The workshops and subsequent research taught us new insights about the realities of master planning particularly the problems with inflexible and bureaucratic work procedures that affected a changing library environment.  

Libraries are furniture and equipment-intensive facilities.  The interior design aspects- furniture, and equipment layouts, people and material traffic patters, work flow, lighting, acoustics, and even color- affect how users and staff work in the library.

This web site concentrates on the interior design aspects of library planning.  There is special emphasis on do-it-yourself techniques, important for librarians who do not have the funds or the resources to hire outside help. 

Many design elements go into setting up a library facility. From the initial report presented to those in charge to the completed renovation or move-in day.  Different space arrangements, selection, as well as power and energy requirements, must be examined.

Often it is the behavioral elements that are little regarded and even less understood by those involved in space planning process. As we came to realize, buildings that "work" usually do so because someone-designer or client-understood those behavioral aspects, if only intuitively.

Libraries in particular are vulnerable to the "good design gone wild" syndrome. This is because they are usually viewed as the "intellectual center' of something: the town, the school, the corporate structure. Those in charge want their library, as a focal point, to be the best anywhere. For many, the "best" translates into the "best looking," never mind the rest.