Expert Opinion

Kevin F. Huse ¦ Woollen, Molzan and Partners

"When designing a new academic library, always remember the user in every design decision. It's great if it wins awards, but if the students don't use it, the design is not a success. Creating an environment that encourages learning is the primary goal. Students want to be together around technology. They need to have that buzz of activity enveloping them. The entire library—and, especially, the public areas—should support collaboration."

CASE STUDY This new five-level library/classroom building (155,000 sq. ft.) is more than twice the size of the former Rice Library at the University of Southern Indiana. In addition to traditional library spaces, it contains approximately 30 group study rooms, a commons that is frequently filled with students and campus entertainment, a Starbucks, and 18,000 square feet of classrooms. Ruth Miller, library director, said it best: “If people 'vote' with their feet, this building is a winner.”

Wendell D. Brown ¦ Earl Swensson Associates, Inc.

"Libraries today continue to fulfill their traditional roles, but the design of the libraries of tomorrow, particularly on college and university campuses, will no longer need to replicate today's model physically. Libraries are, in fact, caught in a crisis of change between the Internet and the incalculable amount of printed information available. This crisis can provide new directions that will make the library even more of a vital component of a community or the actual center of a university's campus."

CASE STUDY The future college/university library will have no need physically to house informational materials duplicated on other like campuses. Instead, it will be virtually connected with networked information to eliminate duplication and provide an even wider array of informational sources. This will be supplemented with information accessibility on the Internet and in combination with robotic offsite data/information retrieval. This direction of independent research and information gathering should cause the library to become more of a physical social forum for the sharing, confirming, and debating of information and ideas in real time with real people. The library can, in essence, take on the appearance of a town center and incorporate the integrated components of a coffee shop, bookstore, print shop, facilities for scholarly lectures, and meeting rooms.

Tania Salgado ¦ RNL Design

"Because the future is so difficult to predict, it's best to create an open, adaptable plan that allows for easier changes in collection sizes and services over time."

CASE STUDY The Martin Luther King Jr. branch of Aurora PL, CO, was developed with a plan free of columns and interior walls, providing for the ability to change. Visual security and open spaces were of utmost importance in this very busy library, so a clear visual connection to all corners was achieved by the radial layout of shelving around a central information desk. Mechanical systems, lighting, and signage in the same radial pattern are flexible for new furniture configurations and space orientations. Natural light minimizes the need for artificial light during the daytime, saving energy. New building systems, specifically raised flooring, provide not only sustainable components to the building but also unlimited flexibility in mechanical and power/data modifications to a library.