Dear Chaya, I have had the privilege or misfortune to work in 4 renovated and/or new libraries. All of them were built by architects who had never done libraries or museums before. All of them looked pretty (which is the architects's main interest), but were not functional whatsoever. As a result, the librarians had to compensate for the design mistakes by placing the furniture and shelving units to act as partitions. Result: Soon the new place looked old and untidy.
You should insist on hiring a firm who has built at least 3-4 libraries, and that is aware of the need to analyze workflow, listen to the librarians, and work seriously on climate control and energy saving. Especially be aware that using cheap building materials results in high cost of maintenance. The Library Journal devotes its December issue to library architecture. Get hold of Dec. 2004 issue and look at names and ads. There are some firms who specialize in library buildings. Aviva E. Astrinsky Head Librarian YIVO Institute for Jewish Research 15 West 16th Street New York, NY 10011 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
