Week 3 Articles

Best Practices:
Designing a library isn’t an easy task, and lots of things need to be considered before jumping in with two feet. The article ‘Best Practices’ recommends that several things be taken into consideration first; adjustable lighting, electrical connections, sound control, and space for expansion. Also, when building or rearranging the library different areas need to be thought out, especially for noise levels. For example, the work station area and the collections shelves might need to be placed further away from the independent reading section. The staff at WBDG also recommend the following things for a functional learning commons; space to separate activities, an open design, cable connections for videos, acoustical treatment on the walls, and cubicle partitions. There are many others, but these are the ones that I haven’t thought about until sitting down and actually designing a library.

Library Design-
The first line in this article I fell in love with, “the only safe prediction about the future is that technology will change”. This makes perfect sense to me, because who could have seen the invention of blogging or Skype coming? You can’t plan for things that you aren’t aware of. This is the reason why the article tries to influence the makeup of the library to be as flexible as possible. The reason for an outside wall is nice (so an addition can be built later), but I don’t see how that would be possible for most school districts, if they’re library is already established. Once again, it comes down to budget. Some librarians are struggling to keep their jobs in today’s economy, they can’t be too picky about the location they’re given.

Theory into Practice-
I’ve never heard the idea of ‘third place’ before, but it makes so much sense. For myself, the two places I bounce back and forth from are home and work, in high school it was pretty much the same. In our small town there aren’t any activities for our teenagers to do whatsoever, so often times they find ways to keep themselves busy which leads to problems. I could see the library becoming the ‘third place’ in our community, granted it won’t work for every child all the time, but it would give them a positive environment for at least a short time. I like how Erikson once again reminds librarians of the ‘casual area’ with a café like feel to it. In order to attract teens (or even pre-teens) it has to be welcoming and warm.

Library Spaces-
I just loved the image from the Children’s Room in Brentwood, TN. As a child I would have loved to go to the library just to walk under that! Also, I love how spacey their floor plan is, the shelves aren’t so close you get claustrophobic and there’s room for different additions later it looks like. Also, what I’m very impressed with is the flat screen that has a constant role of the local area’s history. That a neat idea, but what about changing it up every once awhile with maybe a spotlight on an author, or librarian recommendations? Another piece I looked at that I automatically love upon sight was Crisafulli Elementary Library. However, once I started reading it explained the fact that although the building looked aesthetically pleasing, the dome like design was impractical for things such as quiet reading time. It was neat to read that even though there were small flaws in the makeup, the library was ‘the heart of their school’. Another article I looked at that really made an impression on me was the School Libraries Project in the Washington DC area. The ideas was to take 8 of the school libraries in the area that were out of date and transform them into something usable by today’s standards. (Of course the first thing I look at is budget, of which there were several contributors, but the biggest being from federal aid.) The layout of the site is extremely easy to navigate and I would recommend going there if you didn’t check it out from the assignment. It’s amazing what they were able to come up with from buildings already in existence. My only complaint: the new learning commons look a little ‘sterile’ (they remind me of a children’s hospital) and I think they could be a little bit warmer.