Rachel FlemingCollection Development Librarian,Geisler Library, Central College
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”Philosophical Foundations and Future
Directions of Library Architecture
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Iowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference
Library Architecture and Epistemology• History of Library Buildings and the messages
they send about knowledge and knowing• Brief assessment of current (and future?)
ideas about knowledge and knowing• Brief overview of library building trends• What are our goals? Our institutions’ goals?• How are we communicating these through our
buildings?• Beyond buildings…
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
This talk has only more questions.
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
“To be effective, practitioners should be reflexive, should examine and questions what we do, how we do it, and why we make the choices we do.”
-John Budd
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
“The academic library exists to make manifest and tangible the products of social processes aimed at putting us on the path to knowledge.”-John Budd
“We must look at all buildings as evidence of social processes”-Abigail Van Slyck
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Library of the Benedictine Monastery of Admont, Austria
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
The Aptly Named “Wall System” of Shelving
Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
The equally apt“Alcove System”
Trinity College,Dublin
Memory devices
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
PANOPTICON
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
British Museum Reading Room, Built 1854-1857
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Andrew Carnegie
Pierpont Morgan LibraryNot Unlike Colonel Anderson’s
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Iowa City Public Library
Dubuque Public Library
Grinnell College
“The main consideration should be to help those who will help themselves.”
Andrew Carnegie
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Carnegie Library Floor PlansSuggested by James Bertram
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Modernism & Brutalism• Grand Scale• Mechanical• Futuristic• Freedom• Open space• Transparency
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Le Corbusier’s five points for contemporary construction1) the pillar, to be left free to rise through the open
space of the house2) the functional independence of skeleton and wall,
not only of outer walls but of inner partitions3) the free plan, composing interior space with
nonbearing interior walls to create free flow of space and also interpenetration of interior and exterior space
4) the free facade, the completely flexible and variable wall which is merely a nonsupporting skin or sheath
5) the roof garden -- the development of flat roof as additional living area
Appearance… has the quality of a beautiful ship or machine of the future
:(
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Current Trends in Architecture.
Drew Harrington, “Six Trends in Library Design”
1. Self-Service & Operational Efficiency2. Flexibility & technology integration 3. Green/sustainable buildings4. Collaboration …5. A Renewed interest in Aesthetics6. Customize library to local community
Architect’s Perspective & Recommendations• Library “typology” still appealing to architects• Elements to reinforce “collaborative learning”– Spaces need to include ownership– Work & study spaces integrated with instructional
spaces : seminar rooms house special collections– How will the entire community use the library– When and how will spaces/furniture will be used– Design spaces for what you want to happen there– Consider what environment each space creates
-Steven M. Foote
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Data everywhere, changing everything.
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
Where does the library fit?
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
The more, the better.
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
It goes onFOREVER 80 / 20
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
What’s Changing?
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
“Knowledge is more than an object of cognition; it has been subjected to some kind of filtering… In other words, it has
been deemed meaningful through some societally agreed-upon practice.”
-John Budd
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
What is a library?
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”
What is a library?
What is a librarian?
Rachel Fleming, Collection Development LibrarianIowa ACRL 2009 Spring Conference, 17 April 2009
Confronting the Gathering “Cloud”