The new Biblioteca Alexandrina The Bibliotheca Alexandrina complex comprises not just a library building but also a planetarium and conference center. A large fence with guard stations about every 25 meters runs along the corniche. This was once where you could enter the grounds, but due to security precautions prompted by political turmoil, the entrance … Continue reading Visiting Egypt’s Libraries
What made you want to write this book? For the past nine years, I’ve been a liaison to architecture faculty and students at the University of Oregon. I became interested in urban design and tactical urbanism through my work with them, and I couldn’t help but wonder how those concepts and approaches would transfer to … Continue reading A Conversation with Author Karen Munro
Welcome to the 2017 Library Design Showcase, American Libraries’ annual celebration of new and renovated libraries. These are shining examples of innovative architectural feats that address user needs in unique, interesting, and effective ways. Renovations and expansions dominated this year, showing that libraries are holding on to and breathing new life into spaces already cherished … Continue reading 2017 Library Design Showcase
The following libraries are winners of the 2017 Library Building Awards, sponsored by the American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association’s Library Leadership and Management Association. The biennial award recognizes the best in library architecture and design and is open to any architect licensed in the United States. Projects may be located anywhere … Continue reading AIA/ALA Library Building Awards
Concepts such as “cheap,” “grassroots,” and “local” are relative and open to interpretation. It costs almost nothing to scatter wildflower seeds into abandoned lots while walking or biking around your neighborhood. But it might cost upward of $5,000 to install a “parkmobile” consisting of a custom dumpster filled with tree ferns and yucca plants. You … Continue reading Tactical Urbanism
At Georgia Tech, we knew that using words to explain and defend would not accurately demonstrate the impact we have on inspiring and accelerating the intellectual achievements of faculty and students. So we set out on a library renewal project. When we started four years ago, the project largely centered on building renovations. Over time … Continue reading Radical Restructuring
“The legacy of the paper era is two opposing forces: what’s good for science and what’s good for the people who communicate science,” he told attendees at the “Being Open about Open: Academic and Research Libraries, FAIFE, Copyright, and Other Legal Matters” session of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Library … Continue reading Opening Up: Day Five at IFLA WLIC
“We had a dilemma,” says Cyr. “It was a really hard pill for anyone to swallow as to why we would build new public building for $18 million.” Still, champions of the library—both political and internal—pressed on and the new building finally opened in 2012, a full 14 years after it was first envisioned. “The … Continue reading From Design to Dedication
Spacesaver Cantilever Shelving Spacesaver’s cantilever library shelving has the ability to evolve with changing needs. It has a range of interchangeable accessories—pull-out shelves, media hangers, and slat-wall add-ons—and can also accommodate larger changes. You can mount its shelving onto casters to make it easily movable to create open spaces for events or other library services. The new A-frame cantilever display … Continue reading Extend Your Space
A rocky start In August 2013, the first satellite library in a public housing development opened at Estrada Courts in Los Angeles, a joint project between Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), and Kids Progress Inc., a nonprofit established in 2009 by HACLA. The program was … Continue reading Bringing the Library Home
Catherine Murray Rust, dean of libraries at Georgia Tech University, detailed how her library undertook such an endeavor in Reimagining the Research Library for the 21st Century, an ALA Masters Series session at the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting. It was an extensive project, with some elements still ongoing, but it boiled down to three basic … Continue reading Research Libraries Transform
Probably not, but at the Salt Lake City Public Library, that’s exactly what you’ll encounter. “Having any of these within a flagship library is a unique arrangement,” says Andrew Shaw, the library’s communications manager. In addition, a café, a coffee shop, a public radio station, a writing center, and a library store occupy the first … Continue reading A Balancing Act
