Library building

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Library building , also library . The buildings of libraries are often designed in a special way because of the importance of the goods to be stored. There are several parameters to consider:

  • The form of the medium (papyrus, manuscripts, books ...)
  • The form of use ( reference library , lending library ...), including security aspects
  • The increasing number of publications
  • architectural style guidelines

In the course of time, numerous important structures have been created, for example:

Alexandria Library , burned down in ancient times; was rebuilt and reopened in 2002 as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina .
Library of Celsus , a Roman library in Ephesus
Vienna Court Library by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach , completed in 1726 .
Library of the Premonstratensian Strahov in Prague , 1782 / 1783 .

history

Libraries as independent functional buildings already existed in antiquity . The largest among them were the Library of Alexandria, with a collection of papyrus scrolls that claimed to contain all the knowledge of their time, and the Library of Pergamon , which was the first to use parchment on a large scale .

In the Middle Ages there were only libraries in monasteries and bishops with a volume of a few hundred manuscripts at most. The name library for a special room was first mentioned in the St. Gallen Abbey . The books were usually placed on desks similar to church pews ( desk library ) and chained due to their high value (it took about 3 years to copy a Bible). As the production of literature increased, the desks were expanded into shelves. Use of the library depended on daylight and was limited to a few hours a day.

During the Renaissance , hall libraries developed , in which the books were housed in large, well-lit halls. The hall libraries that predominated in the 17th and 18th centuries often served more of a representative purpose. Because of their inconsistent appearance, some of the books were locked in cupboards or given uniform spines.

It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the idea of ​​building a library specifically for its purpose in the magazine system arose .

Library-specific architectural planning principles

In 1981 Harry Faulkner-Brown published a catalog of criteria for assessing existing and planning future library buildings, which claims to be valid for any library size. He had already presented his criteria at a number of congresses (IFLA Congress 1973, IFLA Building Seminar 1977, LIBER Symposium 1980). The criteria are now considered established. These criteria relate exclusively to the functional quality, not to the aesthetic requirements that have to follow the functional ones. On the other hand, they are so general that they can be used for planning or assessing any existing or new library building and can also be used for so-called hybrid libraries. According to these criteria, a library building should have the following qualities:

  • flexible : all (main usable) areas should be able to be used for the fulfillment of all main library functions and coordinated with one another. This means, for example, that parts of the building that are used to store books (that is, shelf space) should also be able to be used as a reading room at any time, and vice versa. That will u. a. achieved through a high ceiling load-bearing capacity of all floors, in order to be able to mount all kinds of shelving systems on as much building space as possible.
  • Expandable : The building should in principle be able to be enlarged without costly demolition work and be able to look aesthetically as a cohesive whole. As a rule, magazine extensions are necessary; in the meantime, they may also become necessary due to the expansion of the library's tasks, for example to be able to offer classrooms. The extension can be planned in height, depth or sideways. This also applies to the digital library insofar as it must always reserve sufficient storage capacity for the bit stream.
  • compact : For economic reasons, the construction should always only require short distances for users, staff and existing buildings. That speaks in favor of cubic designs.
  • economical : Not just the now high maintenance costs for maintenance, cooling, electricity, heating, etc. a. force an economically feasible construction. How this can be implemented depends on the state of the art. In addition, the construction should be planned in such a way that the library can be operated with little personnel expenditure.
  • accessible : Libraries can quickly develop into complex spatial systems. Visitors should be able to make their entrance recognizable as such with minimal means and first-time visitors should be able to access the entrance easily with minimal use of guidance systems. This speaks in favor of arranging the rooms as a visitor would expect or need: For example, the central information desk and the lending desk should be located in the entrance area, followed by the catalog area, then the reading room area, then the possibly opened magazine (open-access magazine). Today this also includes the connection to university data networks for the use of electronic resources via cable channels from floor tanks or WLAN (the latter only with restrictions).
  • Comfortable : For the user who works in the library, a room climate must be ensured, in the narrow as well as in the broad sense, that allows efficient work with the library materials. This speaks for example for a constant room temperature of 23 degrees Celsius on average, for draft and noise-free, for an attractive interior atmosphere through the wall and light design or for refreshment and relaxation rooms.
  • Well organized : The library materials must be accessible to visitors in a manageable and optimally coordinated manner. That speaks against external magazines, for short availability times, for a large open access area with as many stocks as possible in a systematic arrangement.
  • varied : In order to be able to meet the various individual workplace requirements of the visitors, as many different workplace types as possible must be offered such as group work rooms, work cubicles, carrels, simple reading areas, notebook workstations.
  • Safe : On the one hand, the user must be protected from the library, for example by means of fire protection. On the other hand, the library has to protect itself from users, for example with book security systems.
  • constant against environmental influences : it must be possible to operate the library regardless of weather conditions. This applies to the protection of the book inventory, for example through constant temperature and relative humidity through underground magazines, as well as the room climatic workplace situation on the outside walls of the building.

Andrew McDonald developed a revision of Harry Faulkner-Brown's criteria, known as the "Top Ten Qualities of Good Library Space".

planning

The planning of a new library building begins with the creation of a room program: Based on the planned number of user and employee workstations and the planned capacity for the stock of printed matter, a rough space requirement can be calculated, which in turn can be assigned a rough cost value. At present, building costs of 3,000–3,500 euros per square meter of main usable area are expected for academic library buildings.

See also

literature

  • Harry Faulkner-Brown: Design criteria for large library buildings . In: UNESCO (ed.): World Information. Report 1997/98 . No. 9 . UNESCO Publishing, Paris 1997, ISBN 92-3103341-7 , pp. 257–267 ( online [PDF; 2.5 MB ; accessed on April 26, 2013]).
  • Petra Hauke ​​and Klaus Ulrich Werner (eds.): Building and equipping libraries . Bock + Herchen, Bad Honnef 2009, ISBN 978-3-88347-267-6 ( online [PDF; 2.9 MB ; accessed on March 5, 2020]).
  • Nolan Lushington et al. a .: Libraries design atlas. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 2016. ISBN 978-3-0346-0571-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich Naumann: Principles of library construction. From the “Ten Commandments” by Harry Faulkner-Brown to the “Top Ten Qualities” by Andrew McDonald . Bock + Herchen, Bad Honnef 2009, ISBN 978-3-88347-267-6 , pp. 14–37 , doi : 10.18452 / 2165 ( hu-berlin.de [PDF; accessed on 23 August 2020]).