Places of connection: new public and academic library buildings in Australia and New Zealand.

The emphasis in the burgeoning and sometimes outstanding new library buildings and major rebuilds in Australia and New Zealand is on building social and educational capital. This is being achieved through attention to distinctive spaces for user groups, retailing approaches to ambience, interior design, furniture, lighting, signage, pervasive ICT and eating and drinking facilities. There is an increasing number of new joint use libraries between public and educational libraries, which have special design needs. The user response to, and professional satisfaction with, many of the new buildings reflects the growth in consultation with stakeholders. It also reflects architects and consultants with library experience who are responsive to the aspirations of librarians for attractive, flexible and efficient library buildings. Revision of a paper presented at the Library buildings conference Bournemouth UK 5-6 February 2004

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Among the more profound things Germaine Greer has written, is that

   Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace of
   wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity,
   lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold,
   light nor dark. The pleasure they give is steady,
   unorgastic, deep and longlasting. In any library
   in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still
   and absorbed. Daddy, we hardly knew you 1989

That valuation of libraries would be readily agreed to by those very many people who in the past, now, and certainly will in the future, have their lives changed and improved through them. After all, the most enduring and flexible learning institution is the library--organised for well over two millennia and predating the first universities and schools by well over one millennium-to provide self paced and self selected transmission of knowledge. As Sir Michael Caine has observed

   I educated myself in the library, which means I
   found out for myself what I wanted to know.
   School taught me what I didn't know and what I
   should find out when I left school. School should
   really teach you how ignorant you are and what
   you want to found out. (1)

The library is also unique in giving its name to

   ... the only profession that derives its name from
   a particular type of building, which in turn
   derives its name from a particular physical object,
   the book. (2)

Librarianship is a profession of which, with its inclusive values and commitment to the free flow of information and ideas, the 21st century will have increasing need. Implicit recognition of this is the growing level of investment in academic, public, school and other library buildings worldwide, in both developed and developing countries. As a consequence, at the end of the 21st century its first quarter may well be assessed as a golden age of library building, although there were those--including our professional jeremiahs--who in the last quarter of the 20th century were predicting the demise of the library as a physical place and entity.

The Australian and New Zealand library context

This growth in new buildings is certainly true of Australia and New Zealand. There are at least 170 new public libraries or major rebuilds being constructed in Australia between 2000-2005 alone, and a similar proportion in New Zealand, with 27 building projects in progress or planned for its 18 city library systems. Academic libraries, after something of a hiatus in the 1980s and early 1990s, are experiencing a similar investment in new buildings and rebuilds.

Ironically, it has seemingly proved to be easier to achieve investment in buildings than in improving the investment in staffing and operating budgets of libraries to enable them to achieve their full educational and societal potential. This can be a real test for library managers, given that attractive new libraries invariably attract 15-50 per cent greater use, as confirmed by the experience of the new Leichhardt Public Library in NSW. Its library visits September-November 2003, compared with 2002 in the old library, increased by 29 per cent, its loans 42 per cent and new members increased by 16 per cent. Such an increase has significant staffing implications which cannot be ignored.

Many of these new buildings or rebuilds reflect the need to replace buildings dating from the 1960s and 1970s. In Australia this is in the context that the country as a whole was a relatively late comer to the concept of free local public libraries available to all, with large areas in the States of Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia not having free libraries until as late as the 1970s. This was because of the survival of the poor subscription libraries of the 19th century mechanics institutes for far too long into the 20th century, and because of the weakness of local government, particularly in rural areas. Public libraries are now available to about 99 per cent of Australians, a remarkable achievement in only 30 years.

New Zealand, however, has had a comprehensive public library system longer. It was ranked by Lionel McColvin, the City Librarian of Westminster in the UK, in his 1956 book on the world's libraries, as one of the top four public library nations, the others being Denmark, the US and the UK. Although New Zealand perhaps remains ahead of Australia in some features of its public library services, both countries in terms of population coverage, library usage, buildings, access, resources, services, application of technology and services initiatives would now rank in the top ten or so public library nations. In recent years they have been joined by Singapore, which has seen a massive investment in its public libraries in the last decade. The others in that listing would be a handful of northern European countries, the US and Canada.

I have observed previously that, for Austalian public libraries

   ... lack of space, driven often by the needs of
   technology, and unattractive buildings are major
   challenges. Far too many public libraries, built
   or occupied in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, have
   shelves which are too high, too low and too close
   together, so that much stock is almost
   inaccessible to other than the tall and agile user.
   Too many public libraries are having to dispose
   of still useful resources because of lack of space.
   They are also now sometimes having to refuse
   funds to expand their technological provision
   because of lack of space. As Mark Latham
   notes ... libraries 'cannot afford to be tucked away
   in intimidating buildings or on obscure sites'. (3)

A library can never be overused I have also observed that

   Old, unattractive and poorly located buildings
   constrain use, which presumably is not the wish
   of any local authority--library, and its
   resources, is one of the very few things in this
   world which cannot ... be overused ... Australia
   needs a surge in new and extended library
   buildings in the first decade of the 21st century. (4)

As the joint editor of the 2003 edition of the Directory of Australian public libraries (5) I was aware, from data in that edition, that a surge in new buildings was indeed occurring. However it was not until I made an appeal to all public and academic libraries throughout Australia and New Zealand for information on new buildings that the full extent of building activity became clear. The outcome of that appeal was a wealth of information, plans, photographs, and aspirations to which no justice could be done in one paper. It therefore focuses on the broader issues, and provides references and URLs for some of the more interesting new libraries and rebuilds in Australia and New Zealand.

In particular the paper considers

* libraries as social and educational capital

* the public library as place

* the academic library as place

* public and academic libraries: connection and cooperation

* libraries as an experience

* joint use libraries: the ultimate form of cooperation

* libraries collocated with other agencies

* the price of the past

* the role of consultants

* retailing approaches to library design

* trends in Australian and New Zealand library buildings

Libraries as social and educational capital

The public library has been described as the only public agency which serves the mind of all of the population, one individual at a time. Other terms which have been used recently in international and Australian literature to describe its unique multidimensional role include

Umbrella institutions of the learning society Cathedrals of human knowledge Lifelong learning vanguard Ideas centres Knowledge warehouses Second home for readers Digital nerve ends Open learning centres Cultural cafes Info gas stations Empowerment supermarkets The community's information switchboard Safe places to go Places of connection Hangouts at the heart of the community Drawing rooms of the community The community's knowledge centres The original information superhighway Investment magnets Urban regenerators Social weapons against information poverty Equity building blocks The community's front porch The community's marketplace Community anchors Heartbeat of the community Learning channels People's network Knowledge integrators Knowledge network Local gateways to knowledge Content foundries Imagination's stronghold Infomocracy's place Street corner universities Unique test bed of civic values The new village green Places to light up lives Community catalysts

From the above list, one aspect for which there should be greater advocacy is the public library as community connector and contributor to social capital.

As the ALA list of Twelve ways libraries build a good community states, they

* inform citizens

* break down boundaries

* level the playing field

* value the individual

* nourish creativity

* open kid's minds

* return high dividends

* build communities

* make families friendlier

* should offend everyone

* offer sanctuary

* preserve the past

In the growing literature on community building there is much discussion about the concept of social capital. As first defined by Coleman, Bordieu and others, it

   is essentially the network of linkages, trust and
   bonds within a society that allow an individual to
   operate within that society that accrues
   advantages to that individual.

The idea has been extended by writers and researchers such as Putnam and Cox, 'to mean the advantages that accrue to a society from the aggregated networks of individual trust'. (6)

The World Bank defines social capital as

   ... the institutions, relationships, and norms that
   shape the quality and quantity of a society's
   social interactions ... Social capital is not just the
   sum of the institutions that underpin a society--it
   is the glue that holds them together. (7)

Researchers have identified that social capital, and its underpinning of trust, has been declining for the last 30 years in developed countries such as the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. This was cogently identified by Robert Putnam, professor of public policy at Harvard University in his 2000 best seller Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community.

A recent very insightful library article about this issue is 'America's front porch--the public library' by Michael Cart. (8) That article reflects on Putnam's conclusion that social capital requires that we transcend our social, political and professional identities to connect with people unlike ourselves. It also reflects on the examples he provides,

The public library as place

Re:source: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, in the UK, published in 2003 a very useful major study aimed to assess the impact of a new library building on local communities, questioning the institution as a physical space and the role it plays in the wider community. Libraries must also be buildings (9) examines a series of questions, one of which is 'the extent to which new library buildings can help ameliorate the breakdown in the social connections of British society?' Its chapter seven focuses on social capital, and concludes that social capital is indeed being created in the new public libraries in the UK of which Bournemouth is an excellent and award winning example. The same would be true of the new and enlarged library buildings in Australia and New Zealand. As Libraries must also be buildings? points out

   The library is at any one time a meeting place, a
   learning resource, and a comfortable and relaxing
   public space. The buildings that are well designed
   and managed offer an array of resources that
   enable people and groups to establish
   relationships, carry on conversations, exchange
   ideas, and engage the life of the mind. (10)

Also pointed out is the notion of the third place, a place standing beside work and home and providing a vital role the other two cannot. The ingredients of success for that third place are

* they must be free or relatively inexpensive to enter and purchase food or drinks

* they must be highly accessible, ideally one should be able to get there by foot from one's own home

* a number of people can be expected to be there on a daily basis

* all people should feel welcome; it should be easy to get into a conversation. A person who goes there should be able to find both old and new friends each time they visit.

The role of, and implications for, the public library as that third place are explored well in an article published in the UK in late 2003. In 'Your third place or mine?' Kevin Harris argues that libraries still

   ... have an under appreciated role in providing
   local support and generating trust

and that

   understanding the range of third places and their
   different social roles could be the basis for action
   by agencies ... Taking a lead in this respect would
   help place libraries appropriately in the local
   social capital agenda (11)

In part response to this a number of smaller public libraries, in rural Australia and New Zealand in particular, are identifying themselves as LibraryPlus, providing a range of community and council information, bill paying and other services. Also, as will be discussed later, new public libraries are being built as the hub of a range of other community and cultural facilities and services.

The academic library as place

Interestingly, at the same time as public libraries have social capital, technological and lifelong learning windows of opportunity opening to them, academic libraries have too, as educational change agents. Their responsibility to be proactive educational change agents and partners in learning and information literacy development was canvassed in my paper at the February 2004 7th International Bielefeld academic library conference in Germany. In that paper (12) I expanded on Maurice Line's contention that learning how to learn and information literacy should lead the partnership between academics and librarians.

A very new US study (13) also argues that if planners study how teaching and learning relate to space, the educational return on library construction investment can be increased Scott Bennett, Yale Librarian emeritus, (14) believes that planners should go beyond the achievements of the 1990s to make the library a 'learning commons' rather than an 'information commons'. The focus should be on educational impact, not library services and information provision. This would require systematic assessments by planners of how teachers teach, how students learn, and how library space could facilitate successful modes of enquiry and study. If students and academics become full partners with librarians in planning such uses of space, Bennett considers that academic libraries would become stronger contributors to education, as well as providers of collections and access to information.

There is an undeveloped manifestation of this concept in the growth of information commons, scholars centres, and researchers centres in Australia and New Zealand academic libraries, of which outstanding examples are the information commons at the University of Auckland and Queensland University of Technology, and the Scholars Centre at the University of Western Australia. However, if Scott Bennett is right, there is much work that needs to be done between academic teachers, academic librarians and others to achieve the full educational value of major investment in the academic library as an integrated learning commons.

Maurice Line is also right in suggesting that universities should be comprehensively restructured to meet societal and individual needs. However the reality is that they are complex aggregations of narrow and competing interests, which challenge the assumption in the language of managerialism that everything can, and should, be managed. Typically, they concur with, and implement, change at glacial speed, regardless of the implorations of a vice chancellor or of a national government.

Yet progressive universities, albeit unevenly, are changing their curricular, pedagogical and assessment approaches. There is now more focus on student centred and problem posing resource based learning and information literacy development, rather than on the didactic transmission and testing of rapidly outdated clumps of higher order content. There is more concern with identifying learning outcomes and the qualities, attributes or capabilities that students should develop in their time at university. In countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand, most universities are also grappling with the massification of higher education, with intercultural and demographic shifts, more adult learners, more part time students, more off campus students, more international students, and more students with physical and mental disabilities. These all impact on the academic library as both physical and virtual space.

Public and academic libraries: connection and cooperation

In the population span, and the range of student abilities, with which many academic libraries are now interacting, they thus have more in common with public libraries than even ten years ago. The core business of both is ultimately education, during a century when the smart political mantra is education, education, education and the educational policy icon is lifelong learning.

Connection and cooperation between them therefore needs to be worked at, particularly at the local level. Public libraries are the only agency in society interacting with the entire population from cradle to grave, but academic libraries increasingly also have a wide age range of users. This includes--if academic libraries have any family friendly flexibility in their access policies--student parents accompanied by young children who should be considered in the design and safety specifications of an academic library and the facilities it provides.

Public and academic libraries also have many users in common. Typically at least one third of public library users are primary, secondary or tertiary students. Tertiary international students, in particular, use public, as well as their academic, libraries heavily, depending on where they live and the quality of their accommodation. Academic libraries, of course, are also used by members of the general public, although too few libraries really go out of their way to encourage or facilitate such use.

Public and academic libraries have other characteristics increasingly in common. Although lending of resources remains an important and relatively labour intensive role for both types of libraries, people are using both for many other reasons. The proportion of users of Australian public libraries who actually borrow resources on every visit is as low as 30 per cent. This is despite the fact that overall, like the US, but unlike the UK, public library loans in Australia have continued to increase, from 139 million in 1998 to 172 million in 2002. (15) Academic libraries, despite in many a levelling off or fewer loans in recent years, are experiencing increasing in library use of resources and facilities, collaborative study areas, and social use, and great increases in use of their electronic resources, on campus and offcampus.

Libraries as an experience

Public and academic libraries must now therefore both be designed as inviting, attractive, comfortable, and flexible connections of learning and social spaces and integrated technology, where the full range of their users should be happy to remain for as long as they have a need. This sense is described well by Janine Schmidt, the University Librarian of the University of Queensland, which has been a leader in investing in attractive and innovative library buildings. She suggests that

   New approaches to library design must focus on
   the client, accommodate the technology, provide
   for training of clients in information skills, be
   cost effective, allow for printed collections which
   while shrinking in their expansion rates are still
   growing, accommodate staff where borrowing
   activity is service to users, and support the social
   role the library has always played.

   ... It is important to recognise that not all people
   study in the same way. The new library model
   provided for a variety of study styles, with the
   character of the study spaces reflecting the nature
   of each. The following were identified

      Group study
      Noisy study
      Quiet study
      Individual study rooms
      Comfortable reading areas
      Study spaces for people with disabilities
      Advanced study services
      Electronic study 'kindergarten'
      Electronic study' advanced'
      Study with coffee
      Study with music (16)

Joint use libraries: the ultimate form of cooperation

In her paper Schmidt notes that Harrington (17) discusses six design trends: self service and operational efficiency, extreme flexibility and integration of technology, green/sustainable buildings, joint use libraries, interest in aesthetics and customisation of services.

The June 2003 issue of Australasian public libraries and information services (18) contains an article on joint use libraries in the UK by Sarah McNicol from the Centre for Information Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham. In it she notes that, although their numbers are increasing, joint use libraries in the UK have been largely neglected, and that the concept has been more extensively adopted in North America, Australasia and Sweden.

Also in 2003, I contributed a chapter on joint use libraries to McCabe and Kennedy's book Planning the modern public library building. (19) The book itself is a useful and wide ranging reference. In this paper my comments on joint use libraries are confined to the following

* worldwide there is an increasing interest in joint use libraries, and in libraries linked to other community or educational services. In the UK, as McNicol observes, this has been stimulated by a number of recent government initiatives

* in Australia about 9 per cent of the 1500 public libraries are joint use, the majority being school based in rural areas. This is the highest national percentage after Sweden, which has about 40 per cent, again primarily in rural areas. The increase in Australia is paralleled by a continuing decrease in mobile library numbers

* the concept is, in Australia and more recently New Zealand (eg Upper Riccarton, Christchurch), becoming more urbanised. It now includes libraries between further education/secondary schools; university/public libraries; university/public/further education libraries; and university/further education libraries. A number of large and attractive joint use libraries have been constructed, or are under construction, in both countries

* they can be very exciting, professionally rewarding, libraries

* they can also rapidly become dysfunctional  and professionally unrewarding if developed for the wrong reasons, without through planning and consideration of all of the issues, and without regular evaluation

* the profession should be more proactive in proposing them, where they are appropriate

The design and operational considerations for joint use libraries can be challenging. For example, they are perhaps the only type of library where two or more entrances may have to be accepted, with the attendant cost and security implications. Nor, done well, do they necessarily save money, although that may be the primary motivation of their proposers.

This is most vividly illustrated by the experience with the very large library between California's San Jose State University and the City of San Jose, opened in mid 2003 as the largest library to be built at one time west of the Mississippi River. The initiators of the proposal, the university president and the city mayor, suggested in 1997 a cost of US$40 million. The final cost was US$177.5 million, including relocation costs, only a minor saving on the projected US$180,000 cost of two separate libraries. Nonetheless, it has been justified as 'constructing a facility of much higher quality at a reduced total cost'.

As a final comment on cooperation--a strength of our profession--Australia now has two large purpose designed joint library stores contributed to by a number of academic libraries and one state library. One store is in Adelaide, is contributed to by the three South Australian universities, and has just been extended for a third time. The other, in Melbourne, is world's best practice in its economy of storage of lesser used print monographs and journals, last copy ownership of which is ceded to the store by the individual libraries in the consortium. (20)

Libraries colocated with other agencies

In addition to the trend towards joint use libraries, there is a slow trend towards academic libraries colocated with other academic facilities, and a faster trend towards public libraries as the hub of a range of community facilities. Public libraries located in, or close to large shopping malls or centres are also common. (21) Of the advantages of this, someone once wrote

   Where else can you stop for consumer
   information about washing machines just before
   making that big purchase ... Where else can you
   drop your weary spouse off to mad the latest
   magazines and newspapers while you shop till
   you drop? (22)

In rural areas of Australia and New Zealand there are smaller public libraries in some unusual colocations. These include, in Queensland alone, council facilities, community facilities, a credit union, art galleries, heritage centre, craft outlet, tourism information centres, rural transaction centres, museums and post offices. Somewhere in rural Australia there is even a public library collection in a pub, of which Lionel McColvin would surely have approved. In 1946 as City Librarian of Westminster in the UKJ he undertook a review of Australian public libraries for the federal government. He concluded that a major challenge was, given Australia's vast size and sparse rural populations, that

   Nowhere else in the English speaking world will
   books have to be taken so far for so few-and no
   where else will they mean so much.

Following his Churchillian rhetoric with a good Australian analogy, McColvin went on to say

   But it must be done and it can be done ... All that
   is needed is a book distributing scheme as
   efficient as, say, the beer distributing
   organisation. (23)

There are also examples of academic libraries which are at the hub of the sense of 'campus' and 'academic community'. The newest example of this is the Ipswich branch of the University of Queensland Cybrary, which has received an award for excellence from the Australian Library and Information Association. It has been designed to represent a village square, with one service point handling transaction based enquiries, including loans, enrolments, student fees and assignment lodgement. Reflected in the design is

* commitment to flexible and self directed learning

* use of ICTs in teaching, learning, research and service delivery

* student needs for advice, support and well being

* spaces for students to meet, converse and learn from each other

* spaces for teaching, learning and research resources

* attractive accommodation for staff supporting students in a team context

One of the design aims was to encourage self sufficiency in students. Through layout and signage, the spaces are 'readable'. Lighting, colour and carpet are all used to highlight the different services and facilities. The issue of collaborative academic facilities is receiving increasing attention worldwide. A useful resource about this is the website maintained by Dartmouth College in the US. (24)

The price of the past

Some library buildings stand, and will continue to stand, from an era when it was not unknown for planners and architects to impose their views of the library on librarians, who then had to overcome or minimise the limitations of those buildings. One anecdote about this was revealed in a recent obituary for Vida Horn, who established Melbourne's large St Kilda Public Library in 1973. It is a large intimidating concrete building, of a texture and style which no one would dare propose for the 21st century. Mrs Horn, her obituary recounts

   ... sometimes had to do battle with Enrico
   Taglietti, the library's architect, who had already
   won an award for the Dixon Library in Canberra.
   Taglietti was a leading proponent of the
   'Brutalist' school of architecture. Mrs Horn
   recalled 'when we objected to his lighting plan
   and insisted there be good lights over the reading
   tables, Taglietti snorted and said 'You librarians,
   you're all the same--obsessed with the printed
   word!'

Other Australian and New Zealand librarians could tell similar tales about architects and project managers who failed them, particularly in understanding the special challenges of lighting their libraries well, and of providing them with the flexibility all libraries need.

One issue from the past, for which architects are not culpable, is the consequences and costs of revised building and fire safety codes, and removing asbestos impregnated building materials. For example, New Zealand libraries, and to a lesser extent Australian libraries, must address new earthquake codes in their rebuilds. One case is the seismic strengthening underway in 2004 at Victoria University of Wellington Library, which involves state of the art base isolation technology, using 16 bearings weighing 1.2 tonnes each. Although this is more of an issue in New Zealand, it is also an issue in Australia. For instance, the cost of meeting current earthquake codes has prohibited an upward extension of a large and handsome 25 year old library building in the University of South Australia, although the building was designed for such an extension.

The role of consultants

In Australia and New Zealand, a more client sensitive approach from architects did not generally develop until the 1980s. This coincided with, or perhaps was in part a consequence of, the increased availability of library building, planning and relocation consultants. In both countries there is limited recognition of the contribution that all library consultants have made to improved outcomes for libraries. However one, Dr David Jones, was awarded an honorary Fellowship of the Australian Library and Information Association in 2003, for his outstanding contribution to the profession, and to new library buildings.

Dr Jones is the library building consultant and principal of the Building and Planning Advisory Service of the State Library of NSW, a service initiated by that very large library to capitalise on experience gained in its major rebuild, which was opened by the Queen. He has written about library building issues, (25) been involved in over 100 projects, including in Southeast Asia, which has also been experiencing rapid growth in new library buildings, particularly in Singapore and China. One of the major projects with which he has been involved is the fine new Sarawak State Library, or Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, which is described in McCabe and Kennedy's book (26) to which reference was made earlier.

Another of the projects with which Dr Jones has been associated was the publication in 2000 of People places: a guide for public library buildings in NSW. (27) Ignore the geographic limiter--this is a useful guide for public libraries anywhere, and provides de facto space standards for Australian public libraries. It is available electronically, and the website has eight case studies of some of the outstanding public libraries in NSW.

Not only has the number of specialist consultants increased, to the overall benefit of libraries and their users, but so has the range of their services. One development of note in Australia has been a company, Movecorp, which specialises in internal space management and design of libraries and joint stores, and the logistics of relocating collections. Although there are now several architectural practices in Australia and New Zealand which could claim to be library specialists, most practices have little or no library experience. The increase in library consultants has, therefore, meant that practices bidding for projects and which have limited library experience can employ a consultant to develop a team approach to responding to a tender. It has also meant that consultants are available to help develop a library building brief itself. This can be an invaluable investment, given the complexities of modern libraries and the fact that few librarians are involved in enough building projects during their professional lifetimes to develop and update such expertise themselves.

Finally, as part of the political and public conscious raising, many library building projects in Australia and New Zealand facilitate community consultations. (28) This is recognition that it is important to identify what users actually want, as well as stimulating their awareness of what is possible. The major issue, which all types of libraries still face, is not that of coping with user expectations but rather of stimulating more expectation of what a library, properly funded, can now provide.

One heart warming account of the valuation placed on libraries by members of the community, was received from Bronwyn Hunt, a New Zealand country public librarian. It is of a donation of NZ$650,000 to help rebuild the Keri Keri branch of the Far North Library system. This system of five branches services 54,000 people in a number of townships none larger than 6,000 people, spread over an area of 2500 square kilometres, and 1700 kilometres of coastline. The donation unexpectedly from a Mr and Mrs Procter, an elderly couple. Mr Procter, who has since died, applied to become a librarian over 70 years ago, was turned down, but clearly never lost his interest in libraries. The fine new Procter Library in Keri Keri, four times larger than its predecessor, opened on Saturday 7 February 2004.

Unlike the US, but probably like the UK, unsolicited donations to libraries on this scale are most unusual in Australia and New Zealand. Moderate levels of commercial sponsorship are more common, particularly to the large state libraries in their rebuilding programs. A recent example is the State Library of South Australia with a contribution to its just opened major rebuild by Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd, Adelaide being the city Murdoch used as the starting point for his global media empire. However sponsorships are often very hard work and costly to achieve. One local library which has been successful is the new Hume public library which is the core of the Hume Global Learning Centre in Melbourne. In recognition of its sponsorship by The Age newspaper, the quality newspaper in Melbourne, the library is called The Age Library.

Retailing approaches to library design

It is not the space allocated to books which is critical; it is the space allocated to people It is axiomatic that something which makes such an outstanding and cost effective contribution to individual, educational and societal development and well being as a library, can never be overused. There is no other publicly funded agency in society of which this is unequivocally true. Advocated for well, this concept would surely test whatever values those decision makers with sublimal rationing mindsets may have. However, it also begs the question, do librarians consciously plan when developing new buildings to ensure they receive the maximum custom, and what forms of usage do they consciously identify and apply in their planning?

The University of Queensland Cybrary has used a restaurant analogy to describe its users

* take away/out

* eat in

* order in (29)

This simple analogy can be applied to public and academic libraries. Analogies can also be drawn between the merchandising approaches of retailers, particularly superbookstores, and libraries.

This has led to new library projects in Australia and New Zealand looking at commercial service providers such as banks, telecommunication providers, video and rental stores/libraries for ideas, because all of those depend on growing their business and custom to thrive, and even survive.

It has also led to the arrival on the library consultancy scene of John Stanley, the Western Australian based retailing consultant. He spoke at the UK Public Library Authorities conference in September 2003 in what is described in the winter issue of the Public library journal as a 'provocative session'. John has undertaken a number of consultancies and workshops for major public library systems in Australia and New Zealand, but not yet for an academic library. He, also, has a chapter (30) in McCabe and Kennedy's Planning the modern public library building. In that chapter, and in his presentations, John provides a number of throwaway lines, one of which is 'It is not the space allocated to books that is critical; it is the space allocated to people'. Or as Barbara Pym in Some tame gazelle wrote

   I do not approve of this hushed and reverent
   attitude towards our great library. After all, it is
   a place for human beings, isn't it?

In complementary vein Janine Schmidt, as a university librarian, contends that 'the emphasis has moved from libraries as a place to libraries as an experience'.

For academic libraries in Australia and New Zealand, however, the library as an integrated learning experience--as argued in Scott Bennett's November 2003 report Libraries designed for learning (31) to which reference was made earlier--remains a challenge to be explored, thought through, and met over the next decade.

The superbookstores

Stanley and others point to the analogies between libraries and the superbookstores, although they rarely point out that the concept of open access, free to touch, colocated shelved resources, and fast checkout was a library initiative in the 19th century, very long before its adoption by retailers. The major consideration which has precluded public libraries from becoming as attractive and enticing as superbookstores is not usually lack of awareness or initiative by public librarians. It has been lack of funds, and lack of vision by local government. This is despite the fact that its public libraries are--attractive or awful--a local authority's shop window to its community. This fact seems to escape some local authorities.

Good or bad, its public library is always the most heavily used and appreciated community provision by a local authority, for a miniscule percentage of its annual expenditure. An interesting test of whether an authority recognises how good or bad its library buildings are would be for the library manager to propose to it that a large sign be placed in each building, saying something to the effect 'This library is proudly brought to you by your local authority, the City of ...' How many local authorities are, in fact, proud of the public libraries they provide or know whether they should be proud of them?

One of the more enlightening, and sometimes amusing, articles about how superbookstores use retail atmospherics is Chris Rippel's article What libraries can learn from superbookstores. (32)

One of the issues which Rippel reviews is the provision and consumption of food and drink in libraries, for which there is now a considerable formal and anecdotal literature. This is an issue of attitude and of practice for both academic and public libraries, driven in part by the ubiquitous water bottle and ubiquitous snacking. John Stanley indicates that in his working with libraries, this has been one of the most contentious issues but that 'More and more libraries are now building refreshments into their consumer profits'. This is certainly true in Australia and New Zealand. The argument is now becoming less about whether food and drink should be provided and consumed in a library, but how and to what extent. However no Australian or New Zealand academic library seems to have done it quite as well as the Learning Cafe at Glasgow Caledonian University which has a turnover of over 100,000 [pounds sterling] pa.

Some of the eating and drinking facilities in academic and public libraries around the world do have interesting names. Among my favourites are The Daily Grind coffee shop, University of Oregon, The Blend at the University of Dayton and the Hill of Beans coffee bar at North Carolina State University. However, the one that 'takes the cake', if you will excuse the pun, is Better than Borders at the University of North Texas Library.

There is, in fact, nothing very new about eating and drinking in libraries. It has always gone on surreptiously, and one wonders how many of their users libraries have, over the years, laden with mild guilt as a consequence. Recently, whilst undertaking a review for the 35 year old Geraldton Public Library in Western Australia, I discovered that--well ahead of its time, and the superbookstores--it has had a contracted coffee shop for many years.

Trends in Australian and New Zealand library buildings

Consistent with international trends, there is a renaissance in public and academic library building in Australia and New Zealand, with some outstanding outcomes. This renaissance will need to continue until at least 2025 because many uninviting, unattractive, cramped, inflexible and outdated buildings remain. It is important that the profession in both countries continues to emphasise the importance of decent library buildings, and works harder at drawing the attention of decision makers to the lead set by new ones. This is because, as Christine Mackenzie, the president elect of the Australian Library and Information Association, has observed

   Old, tired, outdated buildings are the worst
   advertisement for our profession; well
   maintained, vibrant, relevant buildings the
   best. (33)

The trends in public and academic library location and design in Australia and New Zealand, include

* creating a library experience--an environment which is available 7 days a week, and is welcoming, user friendly, well signed, attractive, well lit and efficient

* libraries which are welcoming beacons of light at night time, and during dark winter days

* providing special zones and study spaces for different age and user cohorts

* generous provision of meeting rooms and group study rooms

* providing for the full range of user ability

* boutique, shop front, and technology focused public libraries

* uniform use of well spaced lower shelving for openness, light and line of sight throughout the building

* a greater proportion of stock displayed face out

* good display facilities

* maximum flexibility in layout, design and lighting to allow for inevitable reorganisation and expansion

* colocation or convergence with other services and facilities

* information/learning commons

* scholars and researchers centres

* IT training suites

* fully wired buildings to permit IT use anywhere

* complementary wireless spaces wherever possible

* single enquiry/transaction points

* self check for loans

* good car parking provision

* drive by provision

* after hours return provision

* coffee shops or facilities in or close to the library

* open plan spaces for staff

* energy efficient technology and water recycling 

Despite the progress with new buildings, and consciousness raising about their value to their communities, the challenge which remains in Australia and New Zealand is how to persuade local government decision makers, and university, further education and school administrators, of the high return on investment in replacing or rebuilding library buildings, when those decision makers

* may not have had access to a library in their formative childhood years

* may retain views of libraries as the sometimes drab and daunting book lending agencies of their childhood

* may make little direct use of a library themselves

* may still naively assume that the internet and the world wide web have displaced, or are displacing, libraries

* have never seen, or been into, a modern, attractive and busy library

* have no sense of the locational, appearance, space, lighting, technological and other deficiencies of libraries for which ultimately they have responsibility to maximise--not constrain--usage

The positive is that in responding to that challenge, there are now enough examples of outstanding and successful public and academic libraries in both Australia and New Zealand to point to as

* the very heavily used and highly valued hub of their general or academic communities

* places where their communities connect and learn

* places in which their communities can take justifiable pride

* places in which the decision makers can be confident that their decision on behalf of those communities was correct

In short, they are places of which it can truly be said ...

Libraries, there is no better investment!

References and notes

(1) Source Bundy, A ed Liblaf one: cartoons for libraries Adelaide, University of South Australia Library 1993 email [e-mail] for purchase details of Liblaf one, two and three

(2) Crosbie, Med Hickey, D When change is set in stone: an analysis of seven academic libraries designed by Perry Dean Rogers & Partners: Architects Chicago, ALA 2001 p6

(3) ibid p144

(4) ibid

(5) Bundy, A and Bundy, J eds Directory of Australian public libraries 6th edition Adelaide, Auslib Press 2003

(6) Randell, M The science of technologies of participation in Public libraries: community building. Proceedings of the 7th Walgla biennial conference Fremantle WA 7 March 2003 Adelaide, Auslib Press 2003 pp65-73

(7) World Bank What is social capital? Poverty net 1999 www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/whatsc.htm

(8) Cart, M America's front porch--the public library Public library quarterly 21(1) 2002 pp3-22

(9) Bryson, J, Usherwood, R and Procter, R Libraries must also be buildings?: new library impact study London, re:source 2003

(10) ibid p57

(11) Harris, K Your third place or mine? Public library journal 18(2) 2003 pp26-29

(12) Bundy, A Beyond information: the academic library as educational change agent 7th International Bielefeld conference Germany 3-5 February 2004 www.library.unisa.edu.au/about/papers/default.asp#ab

(13) Planning library space investments: the issue for president and CAOs CLIRinghouse bulletin 18 September/October 2003

(14) Bennett, S Libraries designed for learning Washington, Council on Library and Information Resources 2003 www.clir.org/pubs/reports/reports.html

(15) Source Bundy Directory of Australian public libraries op cit 

(16) Schmidt, J and Wilson, H Designing the real virtual library: an overview of the preparation of an upgrade for the University of Queensland Library Comsal XII 2003 conference [first author's email is [e-mail]]

(17) Harrington, D Six trends in library design School library journal buyer's guide December 2001 pp12-14

(18) McNicol, S Joint use libraries in the UK Australasian public libraries and information services 16(2) June 2003 pp81-90

(19) Bundy, A Joint use libraries: the ultimate form of cooperation in McCabe, G and Kennedy, J eds Planning the modern public library building Westport, Libraries Unlimited 2003 pp120-148

(20) www.caval.edu.au

(21) Johnstone, L Public libraries and shopping centres Australasian public libraries and information services 12(1) March 1999 p25-30

(22) Behrman, S and Covable, G There's a library at the mall Wilson library bulletin 64(4) 1989 p31

(23) McColvin, L Public libraries in Australia Melbourne, MUP 1947 p86

(24) www.dartmouth.edu/~collap/

(25) See for example Jones, D People places: public library buildings for the new millennium Australasian public libraries and information services14(3) September 2001 pp81-89

(26) Bergoni, D Puskaka Negeri Sarawak: Sarawak State Library and Multimedia Centre in McCabe, G and Kennedy, J eds Planning the modern public library building Westport, Libraries Unlimited 2003 pp217-227

(27) Library Council of NSW People places: a guide for public library buildings in NSW Sydney 2000 www.sl.nsw.gov.an/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

(28) A good example of this consultation process is described in Ledger, M Connecting its community: the Cambridge Library building Western Australia Australasian public libraries and information services16(3) September 2003 pp100-109

(29) Schmidt, J Physical space or cyberspace? Approaches adopted by the University of Queensland Cybrary to design libraries around direct use of and access to information Comsal XII 2003 conference [author's email is [e-mail]]

(30) Stanley, J Retail technology applications and their role in the modern public library in McCabe, G and Kennedy, J eds Planning the modern public library building Westport, Libraries Unlimited 2003 pp75-88

(31) Bennett op cit

(32) Rippel, C What libraries can learn from superbookstores: applying bookstore design to public libraries Australasian public libraries and information services16(4) December 2003 pp147-155. A version is also accessible at www.ckls.org/~crippel/marketing/bookstore.html

(33) Mackenzie, C A new renaissance in library buildings inCite September 2003 p4

Recent library buildings and major rebuilds

Library systems in Australia and New Zealand which have outstanding new buildings or rebuilds--a few of the many

Auckland City Libraries Auckland New Zealand www.aucklandlibrary.co.nz

Auckland University of Technology Library Auckland New Zealand www.aut.ac.nz/library/

Burnside Public Library Adelaide South Australia www.burnside.sa.gov.au/library/

City of Adelaide North Terrace and Hutt Street Boutique Libraries Adelaide South Australia www.adelaidecitycouncil.com/Libraries/Structure/Communitis

City of Fern Tree Gully Library Adelaide South Australia www.ttlibrary.sa.gov.au/relocation

City of Hurstville Central Library Hurstville NSW www.hurstville.nsw.gov.au/PageZone_Library.asp?

City of Joondalup Library Perth Western Australia Library.joondalup.wa.gov.au/

City of Wanneroo Clarkson Library Perth Western Australia (in progress) www.wanneroo.wa.gov.au

Corrimal Library NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

Gold Coast City Libraries Gold Coast Queensland www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/library/

Gunnedah Global Information Centre NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

Hume Global Learning Centre Melbourne Victoria www.humegloballearning.vic.gov.au

Ipswich Campus Library University of Queensland www.library.uq.edu.au/Ipswich/

Kerang Public Library Kerang Victoria www.gannawarra.vic.gov.au/Page/page/asp?Page_Id=217&h=0

Manukau City Libraries Manukau New Zealand www.manukau-libraries.govt.nz

Manly Library NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

Mill Park Library Yarra Plenty Libraries Melbourne Victoria www.yprl.vic.gov.au/libraries/millpark2.htm

Murrurundi Branch Library NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

Narrandera Shire Library NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

New Brighton Public Library Christchurch New Zealand www.library.Christchurch.org.nz/NewBrighton

New Plymouth Library and Museum New Zealand www.pukeariki.com

Penrith Public Library NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

Portland Branch Glenelg Regional Library Victoria www.grlc.vic.gov.au/televillage/librarydevelopl.htm

Procter Library Kerikeri New Zealand (to open 7 February 2004) www.fndc.govt.nz/communityfacilities/Libraries/iprocterlibrary.asp

Singleton Public Library Singleton NSW (to open June 2004) www.singleton.nsw.gov.au

South Library Christchurch New Zealand www.library.Christchurch.org.nz/South

State Library of South Australia Adelaide South Australia www.slsa.sa.gov.au

State Library of Victoria Melbourne Victoria www.slv.vic.gov.au

Swansea Library City of Lake Macquarie New South Wales (to open December 2004) www.lakemac.com.au

Tomaree Library NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

Town of Cambridge Public Library Perth Western Australia www.cambridge.wa.gov.au/

University of Auckland Kate Edgar Information Commons Auckland New Zealand www.information-commons.auckland.ac.nz/?pm=6

University of Otago Library Dunedin New Zealand www.library.otago.ac.nz/libs/central/index.html#about

University of the Sunshine Coast Library Slippy Downs Queensland www.usc.edu.au/library/libraryD.html

University of Western Australia Medical and Dental Library Perth Western Australia www.library.uwa.edu.au/med.html

Victoria University of Wellington Library New Zealand www.vuw.ac.nz/library/rbsu/moreinfo.shtml

Wagga Wagga Library and Civic Centre NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/policies/build/case.cfm

Waitakere City Library Waitakere New Zealand www.waitakerelibs.govt.nz/

Joint use libraries--a few of the increasing number of them

Batemans Bay Library NSW (university/public/further education) www.esc.nsw.gov.au

Berri Community Library South Australia (public/school/further education) www.berribarmera.sa.gov.au

Caboolture Qld (university/further education/public) new building to commence in 2004 library.caboolture.qld.gov.au

David Mann Library La Trobe University/Wodonga College of TAFE Wodonga Victoria www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/albury/

Hervey Bay Qld (university/public) www.herveybay.qld.gov.au

Melbourne City Library Victoria (public/Council of Adult Education) to open February 2004

Mt Barker South Australia (public/further education) www.dcmtbarker.sa.gov.au/library/

North Lakes Library Qld (senior college/public) to open in 2004 www.prsc.qld.gov.au/services/libraries/

Rockingham Library Perth Western Australia (university/public/further education) www.library.rockingham.wa.gov.au

Seaford Library Adelaide South Australia (public/school) www.onkaparingacity.com/libraries

Upper Riccarton Christchurch New Zealand (school/public) to open in 2005 www.library.Christchurch.org.nz/UpperRiccarton

Dr Alan Bundy BA DipEd MLitt MLib PhD FALIA is university librarian of the University of South Australia, director of the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library, director of the Australian Clearing House for Library and Information Science and founder and editorial director of Auslib Press, Australasia's largest publisher of library and information science. He has consulted and published widely, has edited the quarterly journal Australasian public libraries and information services since 1988, and is an authority on information literacy and joint use libraries.

In 1988, and again in 2002, Dr Bundy was national president of the Australian Library and Information Association. He is currently vice president of Friends of Libraries Australia. His professional interests include information literacy, public libraries, joint use libraries and publishing. Email [e-mail]