Editorial: A Hope in the Future

The latest LJ Design Institute (DI), a daylong event presented in partnership with the South Carolina State Library and the Greenville County Library System (GCLS), SC, gave many of us who attended a needed shot in the arm at a time when so many libraries are enduring budget, service, and staff cuts. As South Carolina state librarian David Goble put it, “If any library dies, it is a problem for the entire library ecosystem….This event gives us confidence that we will make it through.”

That hope in the future was confirmed by the attendance of over 100 library directors from South Carolina and other Southern states, along with architects from half a dozen firms and an equal number of vendors. While cost concerns were implicit in the day’s dialog, they did not distract the group from tackling the big technological and demographic changes that are already impacting library design.

“People carry their own data, media with them,” architect Peter Bolek, Holzheimer Bolek + Meehan, noted. Libraries need to provide everything from software to charging stations for patron’s devices like those used in airports, or the Duracell flat grids for portable devices that debuted recently.

Change demands flexibility, especially as collections are reduced, so space must be able to be reconfigured frequently. Recommendations from architects included shelving and furniture on casters, raised floors, spaces adaptable for solitary use as well as the collaborative lifestyles of young adults, four-place computer stations for a family to use together, furniture in all different shapes and sizes to accommodate people of all shapes, sizes, and ages.

Given the Design Institute’s location in the South, where many systems serve rural populations, this DI focused on issues affecting these communities, particularly lack of broadband and fewer computers in homes. PSA-Dewberry’s Denelle Wrightson pointed out that rural areas need skyping rooms to enable people to connect with their families and those in the armed forces. David Moore, Craig Gaulden ­Davis, stressed the “need to customize to our audience.” Pushing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) can be “a turnoff in a rural community,” he said. “Instead, tell the community, ‘We’re going into a new building that’s three times as large but has the same energy costs as the one we have now.’ ”

The panels took place at GCLS’s Hughes Main Library, a 120,000 square foot Craig Gaulden Davis building that opened in 2002 after a fast-track, 20-month construction required by the county. It is not a LEED building, but it might well be, with its energy- and water-saving devices like low-flow toilets, a white roof to reduce the heat island effect, daylighting, and use of recycled and regional materials.

The Design Institute didn’t just focus on the public library future but on academic libraries as well, with a tour of Furman University’s James B. Duke Library. A small, private university, Furman began a phased building project in 2001 that ultimately involved four moves before the completion of its LEED building in 2006. Since then, use has skyrocketed, with 9000 visits a week from a student body of 2700. Among the draws: a research commons, a multimedia commons with digital imaging technology and viewing rooms, and a 24/7 study lounge.

Several weeks after the DI, participant Nan Carmack, director of Campbell County Public Library System in Rustburg, VA, told LJ that she had finally been given permission to work on developing an RFP for the Timbrook Library—“a large step forward for a project long in the planning.... While I cannot say for sure, I think that my [ability] to speak...intelligent[ly]...regarding site possibilities...earned a larger degree of trust from our Board of Supervisors.”

Projects like these and the ones showcased in this issue of LJ (p. 30–46) put library dreams on solid ground. Together they affirm that we will indeed make it through.