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Designing libraries for the 21st century encompasses many aspects, ranging from conceptualizing a compelling, aesthetically pleasing, and sustainable structure with a striking and functional interior to developing staff positions and expertise that will be commensurate with the capabilities of the facility when it opens. A technology infrastructure that will allow the building to change with a rapidly evolving technical environment and programming spaces to enhance the research and learning mission of the university are also key elements of the 21st-century library. Envisioning ways to highlight the library’s print and digital collections and identifying strategies to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in the library will be integral to the success of the project for its constituencies. Often major building projects focus almost entirely on the physical facility, but in this volume, we make the case for looking at a building project in a more holistic fashion.

For the past two decades or more, we have seen a transformational shift in the design of college and research libraries, moving away from buildings designed primarily to house collections of books and journals. While many library expansions were still driven by the need for added stack space well into the 21st century, the increasing urgency to develop new learning spaces, incorporating new technologies and collaborative spaces for students, led libraries to change. Visionary librarians, planners, and university leaders began thinking about library buildings in new ways, centered more on people than on collections. The need for openness to let in natural light, rather than windowless spaces for protecting books, and flexibility to accommodate rapidly changing technologies were widely recognized. This book provides guidance, principles, good practice, and typical processes for designing contemporary libraries. We intend for it to be both practical and inspirational. (…)

Referência: Designing Libraries for the 21st Century | ALA Store. (2022). Retrieved 15 October 2022, from https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/designing-libraries-21st-century