Planning, Renovating, Expanding, and Constructing Library Facilities in Hospitals, Academic Medical

M Sandra Wood, Elizabeth Connor

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780789025418
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317718093
• Topic: Lingue e linguistica
• Subtopic: Architettura generale

Get the tools to meet the challenge of building or renovating a library!

The challenge of renovating or constructing a library requires organizational skill, resourcefulness, creativity, and willingness to compromise. Planning, Renovating, Expanding, and Constructing Library Facilities in Hospitals, Academic Medical Centers, and Health Organizations presents thirteen insightful case studies revealing how many libraries have been have been built or renovated using innovations designed to meet a specific organization's needs. Each study plainly highlights objectives, methods, results, and conclusions, and reviews the design of the completed library. Ideas and approaches are presented clearly, showing the designing, refurbishing, and refurnishing of existing library space; the merging of library collections and services; and the construction of multimillion dollar library buildingswith each study explaining proven strategies which can be used or adapted to fit the reader's own circumstances.

Planning, Renovating, Expanding, and Constructing Library Facilities in Hospitals, Academic Medical Centers, and Health Organizations explains the steps in the planning process, including needs analysis, goal setting, and public relations, as well as the practical considerations of packing and unpacking. The contributors are noted library authorities intimately involved in every facet of the construction procedure and cost accounting, and the book includes helpful photographs, illustrations, tables, and appendices to clarify and help practicing librarians and library students alike fully understand the strategies needed to create a functional library facility that fulfills expectations.

Planning, Renovating, Expanding, and Constructing Library Facilities in Hospitals, Academic Medical Centers, and Health Organizations includes case studies of:

• a resource library moved into a basement
  
• renovations to the Osler Library at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
  
• construction of the Booker Health Services Library at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center
  
• a merger of two libraries at Trinitas Hospital, Elizabeth, New Jersey
  
• the renovation of a small hospital library
  
• designing a new library in a historic naval hospital
  
• the Hope Fox Eccles Clinical Library Renovation Project
  
• expansion and renovation of the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University
  
• and much more!
  
  

Planning, Renovating, Expanding, and Constructing Library Facilities in Hospitals, Academic Medical Centers, and Health Organizations is an insightful resource for educators, students, and librarians of all types.

PART I:
SPECIAL LIBRARIES

Case Study 1

ACOG Resource Center Happily
Moves to the Basement

Mary A. Hyde
Pamela Van Hine

OVERVIEW

Setting: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is the national professional association for more than 40,000 obstetrician-gynecologists. The ACOG Resource Center includes the J. Bay Jacobs Library, a collection on the history of American obstetrics and gynecology. The Resource Center is used on-site by staff, committee members, and historians. Although the Resource Center handles more than 100,000 requests per year, most are not received from on-site visitors. The library had outgrown its space, and the existing space was needed for the college journal's editorial office, which was being moved in-house. The librarians agreed to move into the basement, gaining twice as much space.

Objective: The overall planning objective was to turn an awkwardly shaped basement space into a warm, welcoming space that enticed users, met the needs of library staff, comfortably housed the collections for many years, provided sufficient space and wiring for technology, and provided four separate environmentally controlled zones—from “the refrigerator,” for the oldest and rarest books and archives, to the general reading area, with plenty of light and relative warmth.

Methods: In 2000, the librarians developed surveys for library users and staff, visited recently renovated or new libraries, and refreshed their knowledge about space planning. The planning document included a summary of fifteen prioritized needs for the new space. Building staff selected the architect and prepared the budget. In June 2000, staff presented their needs to the architects. Construction started in July and was completed by winter. The library was moved in mid-December 2000.

Results/conclusions: The overall new space is efficient, functional, and well-designed, meets most of the space requirements, and is a beautiful and welcoming showcase for the college. With careful planning and groundwork, it is possible to create a wonderful library, even in the basement.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the decision-making and developmental processes involved in designing and building the new space for the Resource Center, the library of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), in Washington, DC.

Setting

The ACOG is the national professional association for more than 40,000 obstetrician-gynecologists. The ACOG Resource Center, the college library, serves ACOG staff, committees, officers, and members. Resource Center staff also serve nonmembers, primarily by providing them with materials produced by ACOG. On-site use represents a small part of the more than 100,000 requests/year handled by the Resource Center. Most requests come through e-mail, facsimile, telephone, or mail. On-site users are primarily college staff, committee members, historians, and visitors.

The Resource Center also includes the J. Bay Jacobs Library, a special collection on the history of American obstetrics and gynecology that was started in 1983 and has its own staff, programs, activities, and special environmental needs. A specific fund-raising project for the History Library established a self-sustaining endowment for the ongoing support of the library. The History Library is a source of pride for ACOG members and an impressive focal point of ACOG tours.

The Resource Center, which was started in 1969 with a room filled with miscellaneous books and journals, expanded and moved several times before the current expansion. Major moves and expansions coincided with moves of the college—from Chicago to Washington, DC, in 1981; and from 6th and Maryland SW to a new building at 12th and DSW in Washington, DC, in 1988. Librarians acquired additional shelf space in other parts of ACOG as the shelf space in the library became full, and some of this additional space was lost when it was needed for other purposes. By 1995, the Resource Center and History Library had outgrown their available shelf space (see Table 1.1).

Because of the library's prime location—on the same floor with the primary college meeting rooms and reception area—the library could not expand further in its current location. Approximately 200 linear feet of shelf space was made available in a basement storage room, but was filled by 1996. In 1997, the History Library received the Burnhill Collection, a very large donation that required off-site storage arrangements. Although the librarians continued to use off-site storage to contain the overflow of library materials, by 1999 they needed a better and larger space in-house. Serendipitously, the existing library staff space was needed for the college journal's editorial office, which was moving in-house. When the library director was asked if library staff would be willing to move into the basement, gaining twice as much space, she agreed.

TABLE 1.1. Growth of collection and services

Year	Shelving used	Available shelving	FTE library staff	Requests
1979	267.0	267	5	26,400
1981	330.0	337	5	34,000
1983	434.0	710	5	38,000
1985	736.0	797	5.5	62,000
1987	863.0	895	7.5	77,000
1989	944.0	1,160	9.5	97,000
1992	1,088.7	1,332	11.5	97,000
1994	1,211.0	1,320	5.5	100,000+
2000	1,690.7^a	1,445.2	6	100,000+

Source: Pamela Van Hine.

^a Includes off-site storage.

Objective

The overall objective of library staff was to turn an awkwardly shaped basement into a warm, welcoming space that enticed library users. The new space had to meet the needs of library staff, comfortably house the collections for many years, provide sufficient space and wiring for technology, and provide four separate environmentally controlled zones—from “the refrigerator,” for the oldest and rarest books and archives, to the general reading area, with plenty of light and relative warmth. The planning period—from start to finish—was less than one year. The librarians received confirmation in January 2000 that they needed to move by the end of the year.

METHODS

The goals of library space planning were to identify what currently worked well, what needed to be done differently, what no longer needed to be done, what new work was to be performed, which spaces were needed to accomplish all of the library functions, and how these spaces were to be integrated. In planning their new library space, Resource Center librarians were fortunate in many ways. The library director and office management staff had collaboratively planned the two prior library spaces. The director was in the middle of her house renovation, which gave her hands-on experience working with architects, builders, and blueprints. Library staff worked with a supportive administration, a generous budget, and architects who listened to them and understood their needs. Finally, the library is located in a major metropolitan area with ready access to many libraries, librarians, and experts in all areas of library space planning.

Methods used by library staff to help plan the library included developing staff and patron surveys; analyzing trends in space needs, staffing, and use; reviewing prior planning records; searching for and reviewing information on library planning;¹ visiting other recently renovated or new libraries; getting bids and reviews for specific projects; identifying a library planning consultant for the project; and coordinating the project through many meetings.

Staff Survey

The librarians developed a survey for library staff to determine which workspace features should be kept, what needed to be changed, and what ideal workspaces would be. Librarians also hoped that the questionnaire would help engage library staff in the planning process, help them feel that their views mattered, and get them excited about the new space. The open-ended questions covered five other topics, in addition to workspace: the general library space and functions, proposed workroom, collection arrangement, equipment, and their vision for the new library. Library staff were also encouraged to be involved in many planning meetings and on specific planning projects. Their input was sought for specific issues that affected their work.

User Survey

The librarians also developed a survey for library patrons to gather their suggestions on what current library features should be kept, which should be changed, and what new features were needed. The questionnaire was one way to engage patrons in library planning and get them excited about the new space. The two-page questionnaire covered six t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• About the Editor
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part I: Special Libraries
• Part II: Hospital Libraries
• Part III: Academic Medical Center Libraries
• Index