[Baynet] Stanford facilities planning workshop

[Rose Falanga]

Forwarded from:

Mimi Calter
Executive Assistant to the University Librarian
Stanford University
101 Green Library
Stanford, CA 94305-6004
mcalter at stanford.edu

The Information Collaboratory:
A Facilities Planning Workshop at Stanford University

23 March 2007

Librarians planning new buildings or renovations are challenged as  
never before to improve the user experience and maximize services  
provided per square foot.  On March 23, 2007, Stanford University  
Libraries and Academic Information Resources will host a full-day  
workshop and dialogue about the future of library facilities.  The  
program, facilitated by Aaron Cohen Associates and sponsored by  
Millikin Carpets, moves beyond traditional library needs assessment,  
to addresses the challenges facing 21st-century libraries and  
cybraries, and the potential to extend modern library principles and  
functions to the virtual environment
Topics to be discussed include:

-- Service planning
-- Identifying the library's target audience
-- Assessing the space needs of the target audience
-- Integrating behavioral research into the library plan.
-- Increasing the efficiency of spaces
-- Assembling a prototype Information Collaboratory

Among the challenges facing 21st century librarians is the management  
of a vast array of digital information resources.  Cybraries, or  
virtual libraries, are increasingly offering services that make  
digital resources easier to find and to use, but physical libraries  
must also offer a library interface for patrons who need space to  
collaborate, to perform research, or to obtain specialized reference  
and research support.  The workshop will examine the facilities  
implications of this need.

The program will also examine the various settings, both physical and  
virtual, in which users, and patrons of libraries live, work, and  
interact.  Accounting for these settings, as well as the swiftly  
evolving IT requirements they entail, is a significant challenge for  
professional planners and architects. Indeed, this period of rapid  
evolution demands solutions for the unpredictable, so that  
investments in physical and virtual structures for libraries and  
cybraries can adapt and remain serviceable over decades. This is not  
an impossible challenge, but it is a difficult one.

The cost of the workshop is $195.00 per participant, and registration  
is limited to 30.  Register at: www.acohen.com/workshops.htm.  The  
program will be held in the Bender Room of the Green Library at  
Stanford University from 9am to 4:30pm on 23 March 2007.

PROGRAM
I. Needs Assessment of the Library:
      A.            Collection area(s).
      B.            User Spaces: individual & group study.
      C.           Staff Spaces: offices/workstations/processing.
      D.           Program/instructional/meeting/social spaces.

II. Settings - Constraints:
      A.            Physical constraints - configuration.
      B.            Operational and efficiency constraints.
      C.           Funding limitations.

III. Scan - Observations:
      A.            Movement:_1. Static observations - photos,  
measurements._2. Motion - video, user behavior interactions, group  
collaboration, workflow.
      B.            Quality - documentation and rating:_1.  
Environmental._2. Spatial._3. "Library as a Place"._4. Quality rating.
      C.           Quantity - documentation, measurements and rating:
                     1.Collection - volumes, linear feet.
                     2.Reader and computer seats.
                     3.Staff / operation spaces in square feet.
                     4.Space utilization.
                     5.Technology.
                     6.Quantity - measurement rating.
IV.   Feedback or Looping:_By definition, a process is a loop or a  
series of loops. An efficient process takes feedback into  
consideration.  Library purpose and services are linked together and  
form a loop. Facility design and purpose are linked together to form  
another loop. By taking these loops and their related feedbacks into  
account, overall efficiency can be increased and the load on the  
external system or operation, decreased.

V. Fix 10 Most Common Problems:

      A.            Performance criteria and measurements:_1.  
Services._2. Operational efficiencies._3. Facility alternatives -  
repurpose, redesign, renovation.
      B.            Costs including funding limitations:_1. Phasing  
the project - short range, long range._2. Short range - operating  
funds, long range - capital funds.3.  Construction/renovation budget.  
Interior design budget.