Renewing our Libraries

Case Studies in Re-planning and Refurbishment

Michael Dewe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780754673392
• eBook ISBN: 9781317066279
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

With the wish to heighten their profile, modernize their environment and increase use, libraries in the UK have refurbished and, where necessary and possible, extended their existing buildings. Although much has been achieved in this regard across the UK, more continues and needs to be accomplished. The case-studies in this book provide librarians, architects and others with examples of what has been undertaken and highlight the policies, processes, design issues - and the problems that have been overcome - leading to successful library refurbishments. While the case studies are mainly drawn from the UK and cover a variety of library types, the book has wider international appeal and includes case studies drawn from Ireland, Sweden and the USA.

Chapter 1
Renewing our Libraries – Forces for Change

Michael Dewe

Introduction

Libraries of all kinds are in a state of transition, as they seek to offer new services, embrace changed social attitudes, adapt to new ways of working and respond to the demand for more agreeable surroundings. They have to be ready to take up the challenges of providing new formats, using new technologies, welcoming new management ideas and seeing the incorporation of developments in architecture, construction and interior design in their buildings.

A new library building provides the perfect opportunity to face the challenges and opportunities of a particular time – in this case the early years of the 21st century. And in recent times a number of high-profile new library buildings in all library sectors have resulted, such as Brighton Jubilee Library and Bournemouth University Octagon Library, attracting media attention, prizes and awards.1

In addition to these new building, however, there is a host from earlier periods which make up the library estate, and scores dating from the first decades of the period after the Second World War. Many of these libraries may be short of space and lack modern amenities – and public libraries in particular have received constant criticism about the quality of their physical environment – which make it difficult for them to meet today’s challenges. The response has been a substantial increase in the number of public library refurbishments – such as Saffron Walden Library, Essex, and Barry Library, Vale of Glamorgan – sometimes involving the extensive remodelling and extension of the existing premises.2 The academic sector too has responded to its particular circumstances and requirements by upgrading and extending existing libraries, including those at Glasgow, Birmingham and York universities, as well as constructing new ones, such as those at the Open University and the Saltire Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University.3

This chapter will note some of the drivers for change and in particular examine the role of national and home governments in promoting and assisting the development and improvement of library buildings through policy-making, funding and the work of various agencies. Lessons from the past, however, seem to suggest that whatever the motivation and forces for change there is a cyclical pattern to renewal of individual library buildings.

Public libraries – a little bit of history

Take, for example, Hendon Library, a neo-classical building, originally opened in 1929 to considerable acclaim. As Hendon Central Library it was extended, remodelled and refurbished in 1973, providing an increase of around 50 per cent of its floor space, enabling improved lending and reference services. It was refurbished once again in 2004 and reorganized over three floors plus an upper first floor.4

The cycle of refurbishment during Hendon Library’s 75 years of existence seems to suggest that public library buildings receive a significant ‘makeover’ only after a number of years have elapsed. This is not exceptional as the ‘little bit of history’ below will show. Even library buildings pre-dating the 1920s Hendon Library – and often still in use today – have been refurbished, remodelled and extended, with various periods of time elapsing between each such renewal.

In the early 1980s the author completed a study of the late Victorian/Edwardian architect, Henry Thomas Hare, who was well regarded, both by architects and librarians of the time, as an expert in the design of public library buildings.5 While there were early unsuccessful project proposals, Hare was responsible for the executed design of nine public libraries which were opened between 1897 and 1909, projects either commissioned or won in architectural competitions; some were funded by Carnegie. A century later a number of them, such as those at Hammersmith, Fulham and Harrogate, still continue in use.

Chronicling the changes that occurred to each building, from the time of its opening to the time of the study, some 70 or 80 years later, was quite instructive. It showed that public library buildings were only substantially altered (sometimes including an extension) and refurbished every 20 or 30 years. Such changes were usually brought about by:

• new library methods – such as a change from closed to open access

• the closing-down of particular department such as a newsroom or museum

• a change in service emphasis from reading on the premises to lending

• the introduction of new services such as a music library

• the need for more space for staff.

In undertaking these changes in the past there is no doubt that librarians felt that they were modernizing their library service and the physical environment in which it was offered. And while the nature of these changes is of interest to the library buildings historian, equally worthy of note is the significant time lapse that often occurred between major library changes leading to refurbishment, space reorganization and extension. The Hendon Library cycle of building renewal thus appears to be a common feature of public library history and one that needs to be less infrequent if such acts are to be seen as carefully planned rather than acts of almost desperation.

Building renewal

Building renewal is very much up to the initiative of individual local authorities and their library services responding to opportunities for changes to library provision, operations and premises. The success of renewal, as an alternative to erecting a new library building, shows that in the right circumstances, the conservation and re-use of existing library premises are worthwhile. The danger, however, of relying on local initiatives, with their probable lengthy intervals between building upgrades, means that the physical condition and appearance of public libraries (both inside and out) may deteriorate in ways that are not necessarily helpful for their public library image or quality of service.

It would be a mistake, however, to imagine that this problem relates only to the UK’s public libraries of a somewhat elderly vintage, as many of the libraries in use today, especially branch libraries, date from the library building boom years of the 1960s and 1970s and many do not seem to have experienced that expected cycle of renewal.

However, the quality of a public library service is not just a simple question of building renewal, important (if irregular) though that may be, but relates to its modern role and the role of staff. And here there may be conflict between the traditionalists, who focus on a book-orientated service, and those modernizers discarding the ‘library’ description for new titles like Idea Store or Discovery Centre.6

Drab and dismal

By the 1990s this neglect of the public library estate, whether built prior to or after the Second World War, and the cost of bringing premises up-to-date, were being recognized. A number of publications and reports, such as Overdue, Better Public Libraries and Who’s in Charge?,7 had highlighted the situation, characterizing some public libraries as of outmoded design, drab and dismal and poorly located. It was suggested that without change (and not just to buildings) public libraries would have a limited future. As will be seen, measures would be put in place to help remedy the situation of inadequate public library buildings through the central influence of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Commission (MLA) and to heighten people’s awareness of the value and availability of their public library service.

Formal government recognition of the poor condition of public library buildings, and the probable cost of making them good, is to be found in a House of Commons report on public libraries.8 However, a number of library building initiatives, stemming from the Framework for the Future9 action plan, were already under way, although these were concerned with new builds as well as the refurbishment of public libraries. This concern for library buildings has to be seen as part of New Labour’s belief that public buildings – aligned to a central government vision – enable the improved provision of public services – witness its Buildings for the Future secondary schools building programme and the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award.

For public libraries, a government plan, influential publications, the work of government-funded agencies and the funding mechanisms themselves – while still depending on local initiative, library service and building developments, including refurbishment – reflect a centralized view of the modern library service and its preferred outcomes. These include the broader requirements of libraries contributing to community regeneration and social inclusion.

Framework for the Future

The ten-year plan for public libraries, Framework for the Future, was published by the Department of Culture Media and Sport in 2003. Following the report, the department commissioned the MLA to prepare an action plan of projects and programmes to support the report’s three main aims. The report recognized the need for modern library premises and the promotion of best practice in the planning and design of library buildings and three projects were subsequently put in place to ensure their achievement.

Designing Libraries website

Following a pilot in 2004, a library buildings database was launched in 2005, led by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) through a steering group. Seen initially as being for public libraries, ‘Designing Libraries: the gateway to better library buildings’, is now more than just a database of descriptions and images of library buildings and is also actively working to include other types of library, both from at home and abroad. The website, managed by a team at Information Services, University of Aberystwyth, now includes news items on recent library building projects, a photo gallery, statistics, RSS feeds, an e-mail list and a toolkit – references to print material and links to relevant organizations, for example library suppliers. The website is now seen as an essential planning resource for all those involved in the design (and renewal) of library buildings, as it shares experience and best practice, raises standards and helps raise the profile of libraries and their buildings.

Of 256 libraries listed on the Designing Libraries database, which covers the year 1995 to date, 92 (32.6 per cent) are examples of the refurbishment of both small and larger libraries. By comparison, new buildings account for 40.8 per cent (115 libraries), conversions 19.1 per cent (54 libraries) and extensions 7.4 per cent (21 libraries). Putting refurbishment and extensions together means that their total runs a close second to new build.10 In answer to a parliamentary question, however, it was said that ‘almost 200 “significant” refurbishments’ of public libraries had taken place in 2006–200...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Renewing our Libraries – Forces for Change
• PART 1: HERITAGE LIBRARY BUILDINGS – ENHANCING THE PAST FOR THE PRESENT
• PART 2: NEW STYLES OF PROVISION – WIDENING THE LIBRARY ROLE
• PART 3: REMAKING UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES – CREATING MODERN LEARNING AND RESEARCH ENVIRONMENTS
• PART 4: EXTENDING THE LIBRARY – MODERNIZING AND ADDING SPACE
• PART 5: LIBRARY REFURBISHMENT PROGRAMMES – FORGING TEMPLATES FOR BUILDING RENEWAL
• PART 6: (1) SNAPSHOTS: SOME REFURBISHMENT CASE STUDIES IN BRIEF (2) CASE STUDIES REVIEWED
• Bibliography
• Index