Library Buildings in a Changing Environment: Proceedings of the 11th Seminar of the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment, Shanghai, China, 14-18 August 1999 9783110964462, 9783598218194

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International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions F0d6ration Internationale des Associations de Bibliothecaires et des Bibliotheques Internationaler Verband der bibliothekarischen Vereine und Institutionen MOKAYHAPOAHAN

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Federaciön Internacional de Asociaciones de Bibiiotecarios y Bibliotecas

IFLA Publications 94

Library Buildings in a Changing Environment Proceedings of the Eleventh Seminar of the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment Shanghai, China, 1 4 - 1 8 August 1999

Edited by Marie-Frangoise Bisbrouck

K G - Saur

München 2001

IFLA Publications edited by Carol Henry

Recommended catalogue entry: Library buildings in a changing environment: Shanghai, China, 14 - 18 August 1999 / [International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions]. Ed. by Marie-Frangoise Bisbrouck. München : Saur, 2001, IV, 236 p. 21 cm (Proceedings of the ... seminar of the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment; 11) (IFLA publications ; 94) ISBN 3-598-21819-2

Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Library buildings in a changing environment: Shanghai, China, 14 - 18 August 1999 / [International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions]. Ed. by Marie-Fran^oise Bisbrouck. München : Saur, 2001 (Proceedings of the ... seminar of the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment; 11) (IFLA publications ; 94) ISBN 3-598-21819-2

Θ Printed on acid-free paper The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences - Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48.1984. © 2001 by International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, The Hague, The Netherlands Alle Rechte vorbehalten / All Rights Strictly Reserved K. G Saur Verlag GmbH München 2001 Printed in the Federal Republic of Germany All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system of any nature, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed / Bound by Strauss Offsetdruck, Mörlenbach ISBN 3-598-21819-2 ISSN 0344-6891 (IFLA Publications)

Table of Contents

Programme

3

Marie-Fran?oise BISBROUCK: Introduction to the Eleventh Seminar

7

Dr Brian LANG: Library Buildings for the new Millennium

11

ZHOU Xiaopu: Prospects of Library Buildings in China

25

Prof. MA Yuanliang: The Development of Library Buildings in Shanghai

31

Han Kun SONG: The Development and Prospects of the National Assembly Library Building (Korea)

39

Prof. TOMIE Shinji: The Process of Development and the Transition of Method for Facility Planning in Japanese Public Libraries

61

Marie-Fran^oise BISBROUCK: Why and How to Prepare a Draft for a new Library Building: French Experience over the Past Decade

79

Hannelore JOULY: Stuttgart: On the Way to the Library 21

91

Dr David JONES: Contextual Constraints and Opportunities: the State Library of New South Wales Extension and the new Pustaka Negeri Sarawak Building

99

Gary STRONG: Flushing Library: A Year Of Success

125

Christie KOONTZ, Dean JUE: The Location of your Library Buildings: Why it is important and How to do it using GIS (Geographic Information System Software)?

141

NGIANG Lek Choh: Designing Library Interiors in a Changing Environment: The Singapore Experience

155

Jean-Luc BICHET: From Necessity to Reality: Journal of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France Project

163

CHENG Xiaolan, YING Changxing and LIN Zuzao: To Create an Atmosphere of "Books for Readers and Readers among the Books": On the New Building of Zhejiang Provincial Library

177

Dr Henryk HOLLENDER: Librarians, Politicians and Architects in the Changing Academic Context: A Story of the Emerging Building of the Warsaw University Library

191

1

Dr Manuel JORBA: The National Library of Catalonia: A New Organization in a Renovated Building: An Assessment

207

Prof. Andrew McDONALD: Closing Remarks

217

Attendance List

221

2

Programme

Saturday, 14 August 1999 4 - 6 p.m. Registration

Sunday, 15 August 1999 9:00 a.m. Opening Ceremony for the Exhibition "New Library Buildings of the World" Hostess: Miss Cui Wen, Shanghai TV Station Anchor Speakers: Prof. Ma Yuanliang, Director, Shanghai Public Library Ms. Marie-Francoise Bisbrouck, Secretary, IFLA Section on Library Buildings & Equipment 10:00 a.m. Opening Ceremony for the 11th International Seminar on Library Buildings Host: Dr. Wu Jianzhong, Deputy Director, Shanghai Public Library Speakers: Mr. Wim Renes, Former Chairman, IFLA Section on Library Buildings & Equipment Prof. Wang Heming, Chairman, Shanghai Library Council Representatives of the Cultural Ministry or China Society of Library Science and of the Shanghai Municipal Government 10:45 a.m. Guest Speech Chairman Prof. Miao Qihao, Deputy Director, Shanghai Public Library Speaker Dr. Brian Lang, Director, British Library, London, UK "Library Buildings for the New Millennium"

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2:00 - 4:00 p.m. First Session: Library Buildings in an East Asian Context Chair: Mr. A. R. Bandyopadhyay, Director, National Library of India Speakers: M. Zhou Xiaopu, Ministry of Culture, China: "Prospects of Library Buildings in China" Prof. Ma Yuanliang: "The Development of Library Buildings in Shanghai" Ms. Han Kun Song, National Assembly Library of Korea "The Development and Prospects of the National Assembly Library Building" Prof. Tomie Shinji, Japanese Library Association: "The Process of Development and the Transition of Method for Facility Planning in Japanese Public Libraries" 4:15 - 5:45 p.m. Second Session: Preparation for a New Library Building Chair Ms. Kan Lai-Bing, Director, University of Hong Kong Library Speakers: Ms. Marie-Francoise Bisbrouck, Ministöre de 1'Education, de la Recherche et de la Technologie, Paris (France) "Why and How to Prepare a Draft for a New Library Building: French Experience over the Past Decade" Ms. Hannelore Jouly, Director, Stuttgart Public Library, Germany: "Stuttgart: On the Way to Library 21" Dr. David Jones, State Library of New South Wales, Australia: "Contextual Constraints and Opportunities: the State Library of New South Wales Extension and the New Pustaka Negeri Sarawak Building" 6:30 p.m. Welcome Banquet Host: Dr. Wu Jianzhong Speakers: Prof. Wang Heming Mr. Gary Strong, Director, Queens Borough Public Library, New York, USA

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Monday, 16 August 1999 9:00 -10:30 a.m. Third Session: New Technologies and Their Impact on New Library Buildings Chair: Ms. Hannelore Jouly Speakers: Dr. Christie Koontz, Mr. Dean Jue, Florida State University, USA: "The Location of your Library Buildings: Why It Is Important, and How To Do It Using GIS (Geographic Information System Software)" Ms. Ngian Lek Choh, Singapore National Library Board: "Designing Library Interiors in a Changing Environment: The Singapore Experience" Mr. Jean-Luc Bichet, architect, Bibliothöque Nationale de France, Paris, France: "From Necessity to Reality: Journal of the Bibliothöque Nationale de France Project" 10:45 -12:15 a.m. Fourth Session: Assessment of new Library Buildings Some Years after their Opening to the Public Chair: Ms. Maria Jos6 Moura (Standing Committee member of the IFLA Section on Library Buildings & Equipment), Lisbon, Portugal Speakers: Mr. Wim Renes, Director, The Hague Public Library, The Netherlands: "New Services, New Buildings" Ms. Cheng Xiaolan, Director, Zhejiang Library, China "To Create an Atmosphere of "Books for Readers and Readers among the Books": On the New Building of Zhejiang Provincial Library, China" Mr. Gary E. Strong, Director, Queens Borough Public Library, New York, USA: "Flushing Library: A Year of Success" 2:00-4:15 p.m. Fifth Session: Concept and Social Environment of New Library Buildings Chair: Ms. Frances Awcock, Chief Executive Officer, State Library of Victoria, Australia Speakers: Dr. Henryk Hollender, Director, Warsaw University Library, Poland: "Librarians, Politicians and Architects in the Changing Academic Context: A Story of the Emerging Building of the Warsaw University Library" 5

Dr. Manual Jorba, Director, The National Library of Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain "The National Library of Catalonia: new Organization in a Renovated Building: An Assessment" Mr. Craig Dykers, architect, Snohetta, Oslo, Norway: "Building the Alexandria Library: 2000 Years of the Past and the Future"

Tuesday, 17August 1999 9:00 -11:30 a.m. Library Tour: Visiting the Shanghai Public Library and the Shanghai Jiaotong University Library 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Closing Ceremony Host: Prof. Andrew McDonald, Director of Information Services, University of Sunderland, UK Speakers: Mr. Byung Suk Min, Director, National Assembly Library of Korea Prof. Ma Yuanliang Representative of the Shanghai Municipal Government

Wednesday, 18 August 1999 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Hangzhou Tour 10:30 a.m. Visiting the Zhejiang Library 1:30 p.m. West Lake Tour

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Introduction to the Eleventh Seminar Marie-Frangoise BISBROUCK Ministere de I'Education nationale, de la Recherche et de la Technologie Sous-direction des bibliotheques et de la Documentation, Paris (France) Secretary of the Section on Library Buildings and Equipment First I would like to welcome you to this Eleventh Seminar of the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment. My name is Marie-Frangoise Bisbrouck. I am the Secretary of the Section on Library Buildings and Equipment. And on behalf of Maija Berndtson, the Chair of our Section, who cannot be with us during this seminar, I welcome you very warmly. I would like to present briefly the aims and objectives of IFLA and the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment. IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, was founded in Edinburgh on 30 September 1927 and was established as a small association of mainly National Library Associations and Academic Libraries. The Federation was one of the first international non-profit, non-governmental organizations aiming to further the cause of librarianship. Its primary function was to provide librarians throughout the world with a general forum for international contacts and exchange of ideas and experiences, principally in the field of bibliography. Originally, IFLA had a largely European and Atlantic focus as international relations in the world of librarianship tended to be the concern of the Western countries. However during the years following the Second World War, IFLA progressively broadened its membership base geographically. Today IFLA is represented in almost 146 countries all over the world. According to its Statutes, the Federation "shall undertake such tasks and enterprises as may be determined appropriate and desirable: • to undertake, support and coordinate research and studies, • to collect, publish and disseminate information relating to library, bibliography, information and training activity, • to organize general and specialized meetings and conferences, • to collaborate with international organizations in the fields of information, documentation and archives, • and to promote fulfillment of theoretical and practical objectives in every field of library activity." And now, some words about the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment. The Section Library Buildings and Equipment is part of the IFLA Division on Management and Technology.

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The scope of the programme of the Section for the years 1998-2001 is as follows: • The Section considers all matters concerning the design and construction of all types of libraries in all parts of the world, and their furnishing and equipment. • The Section aims to collect and disseminate knowledge about buildings and equipment in order to increase this knowledge among librarians. • It also aims to establish better contacts between librarians and architects by creating the conditions under which it will be possible for each of them to understand the other's language. • By promoting an exchange of experiences between librarians and architects. That is why architects have been invited to participate in this seminar. The Goals of the Section for the years 1998-2001 are: • To collect and present information on new library buildings and renovations • To organize seminars and/or study tours on library buildings in various countries to which developing countries will be encouraged to send representatives • To develop guidelines for librarians in the planning and preparation of building programme documents for architects and for participating in project development. That is the reason why, in the very past years, the Section organized its Tenth Seminar in the Hague (the Netherlands) (August 1997) and published the Proceedings in March 1999. The major theme of this seminar was "Intelligent Library Buildings". One year before the Tenth Seminar, in 1996 in Beijing, China, during the IFLA General Conference, the Section organized a workshop on "Architectural Competitions", which is now a leaflet of the Section, and is available from the Secretary of the Section. So, you can understand the reason why we all are in this marvelous Shanghai Public Library today to participate in the Eleventh Seminar of the Section! In fact, at the end of the Tenth Seminar in The Hague two years ago, the Section was invited by Dr Wu, the deputy director of the Shanghai Public Library, to hold our future seminar in the new building of the Shanghai Public Library, in connection with the 65th IFLA General Conference in Bangkok. Dr Wu prepared this seminar marvelously with his team: • He contacted most of the speakers, librarians and architects • He organized the exhibition we will see very soon • And he prepared a magnificent book which presents more than 200 new library buildings all over the world. Dr Wu will later give us much more interesting and useful information concerning this book! I would also like to thank those who have made this seminar possible: •

First, Professor Ma and Dr Wu, respectively director and deputy director of the Shanghai Public Library, and all the staff of the library. I was told that this international seminar is the first one in this very nice library which opened two years ago. We will benefit much from this modern environment.

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•

Then, I would congratulate the only one sponsor of the seminar, the Shanghai Public Library. Because, as you know, nothing can be done without money! It has to be thanked very warmly for its generous support and cooperation.

•

I also want to thank all our speakers, chosen among from most prominent librarians of their countries and the architects who designed beautiful buildings for libraries. All of them have built new premises for their libraries or renovated old buildings. All of the speakers have agreed to spend five or six days here with us to discuss the theme of the seminar: "Library Buildings in a Changing Environment", and to share their experiences on how to build the best library building possible today. One after the other will speak about the following subthemes: • Library Buildings in an East Asian Context • Preparation for a new Library Building • New Technologies and their Impact on new Library Buildings • Assessment of new Library Buildings Some Years after their Opening to • the Public • Concept and Social Environment of new Library Buildings.

I also would like to thank the Libraries in Shanghai and Hangzhou which are hosting visits and those who have organized the exhibition here. I hope that from the speakers' contributions and with all the personal talks we will have, that we will have a very stimulating and successful seminar. The seminar gives us the opportunity to discuss new developments and experiences in librarianship not only by hearing the lecturers but during coffee breaks, breakfasts or evenings. It will enable us to build more effective library buildings to cope with the changing needs of researchworkers, students and the general public. It is a challenge for librarians and architects!

9

Library Buildings for the New Millennium Brian LANG Chief Executive, The British Library, London, United Kingdom I should like to begin by saying how happy I am to be in Shanghai once more. This is one of the great cities of the world, so it is fitting that it has now a great new library building. When I first visited Shanghai in 1993 the new library seemed to be barely at the planning stage. Now it is open and flourishing, and that is a matter for much congratulations. I have been asked to talk about new library buildings for the new millennium, and in particular about the British Library's new building at St Pancras in London. New library buildings are very much in vogue. At the close of the 20th century and as we stand in the entrance of a new age of electronic information, they are being constructed on a very grand scale. Here in Shanghai and in Paris, in Frankfurt, in Copenhagen, are brand new library buildings. And, of course, in London. All these new libraries, when it is frequently claimed that the book as we know it is dying and being replaced by discs and the Internet. So why bother with libraries? On the contrary, the new British Library is the largest public building to have been constructed in the United Kingdom during the entire century. That a national library should have that status is reassuring. For libraries represent, and celebrate, the achievements of humanity. Libraries throughout history have been extraordinarily successful social spaces. They are the location for encounters of several kinds, and I will talk about some of these. A library may well be regarded as a collection of books. The building that houses the collection, though, is the most obvious physical manifestation to the population as a whole, many of whom may never actually enter the library. The popular image of the British Library was, at least until very recently, of the new building being constructed for us in London. Very little attention was paid in the many newspaper and magazine articles about the new building to the world famous collection of books to be housed there. Similarly, the new Biblioth£que Nationale de France in Paris got far greater attention as a building, the largest of President Mitterand's grand projects, than as a collection. The British Library's new building was formally opened last June. Not only is it very large, but at GBP 500 million it is also the most expensive British building, ever built. And one of the most delayed. When the Queen came to formally declare the building open, she said the appointment had been in her pending tray rather longer than most. The story has a happy ending. The architect, Sir Colin St John Wilson, has designed a building that is not only beautiful, it works well as a library. The new building has confounded its critics and has been acclaimed a great success. Readers certainly seem to like it, because they are coming to work in the reading rooms in numbers far greater than we had anticipated. They say they find the new reading rooms comfortable, and that

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working conditions are good. We deliver books to readers more quickly, too, and more reliably and predictably. But there is more to a library than simply the comfort of the readers and the well-being of the books. Additional considerations ought to guide the librarians and architects when planning a new library building, if it is going to be more than just storage for books and a few tables and chairs for consulting those books. A useful way of considering libraries is to examine the relationships that characterize them. An obvious one is the relationship between the libraiy building and the readers. Other key relationships are those between readers and the library's collections, between readers and librarians, between librarians and the collection, and between the collection and the building. Let us look first at library buildings and their relationship with collections. After all, the buildings were intended to house the collections. But how can they cope? Will they ever be large enough, and how can they provide for storage of electronic publications? In the information age, huge quantities of information are being produced. One anecdotal measure of the quantity being produced is that the amount of knowledge and information being created in the world at present doubles every five years. More books are being published than ever before in history. At the British Library we take in 8,000 new items, including more than just books, every day. Our collection of printed books alone grows by more than 14 kilometers every year. One answer to the storage problem is to make no attempt to keep all physical items under one roof. At the British Library, we keep the most heavily used items, the most fragile, the most rare and valuable, in our new building. They are kept in good environmental conditions, mostly in deep basements where the temperature, humidity and cleanliness of the air can best be controlled. The book stores at the British Library are in the biggest hole ever dug in central London. They now provide us with almost 400 kilometers of shelving. The need to improve the conservation conditions for the collection was one of the main reasons for commissioning the new building. The Victorian splendors of the British Museum building were all very well, but the environment for our books and manuscripts was appalling. Now, about two-thirds of our collection is in central London. Most of the rest, about nine million books, is in Yorkshire at Boston Spa. The lower use items are in Yorkshire. We have substantial book stores there, about 400 kilometers north of London, and it is an easy task to transport a book overnight to the London reading rooms if a reader asks for it. It simply does not make sense to store a vast collection in a city centre, when some books may be required, say, once in 50 years. The economics are straightforward. It costs me an average of 32 US cents per year to store a book in the St Pancras building in London, and nine cents per year to store a book in Yorkshire. The physical storage of that kind of item is technically relatively easy. A much greater challenge for libraries is how to ensure long-term access, or to retain in any real way, the

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information which is now produced as an online database. That issue has little directly to do with buildings. Where and how do we keep electronic data? It can be stored anywhere, and need not sit next to books and manuscripts. So do we still need buildings to store library materials now that we can digitize them? The answer is yes, because I am certainly not intending to make digital copies of the "Magna Carta" and the manuscript of Alice in Wonderland, and then throw away the originals. One of my responsibilities is to care for a substantial historic collection of books and manuscripts and not simply copies of these, electronic or otherwise. But the point is that the relationship between a library building and the library's collections is changing. We do not necessarily need a building to house a collection. It is also the case, though, that the building is needed for reasons other than simply to store a collection of manuscripts and printed books. Readers still flock to library buildings. They come to consult books, and catalogues and so on, but there is more to a visit than just that. As I said earlier, libraries have always been successful social spaces. Libraries are regarded as ideal locations for intellectual encounters of many kinds. The intellectual encounter is not exclusively with the books and manuscripts consulted in reading rooms. The library building should recognize the desirability of those other kinds of encounter, and provide opportunities for them. It is essential that a library has a decent restaurant and other locations to let people meet and exchange ideas. The Library can offer much more than just research materials. There are other kinds of stimulus in a library for scholarly and creative endeavor. For one thing, there is quite clearly a benefit from simply working in a reading room among fellow scholars. To make more of the relationships between readers, at the British Library we have established, at the request of readers, a register in which they may note their research interests, in order to make contact with other readers working on similar subjects. And of course libraries, and the British Library in particular, are notorious pick up joints, or perhaps I should say, locations of high potential for initial romantic encounter. I will not dwell on that aspect of library life, although many novelists have used libraries as settings for that kind of encounter. Perhaps it is a pity that library visiting now has its alternatives. There are other ways of consulting a library than browsing in the catalogue hall or along the book stacks. New technology has given a new meaning to library research. Libraries have to cater for expectations among their users that they should be able to access the catalogues and collections in an increasing number of ways. Our readers want to exercise choice in how they visit us, whatever the term "visit" means. Most large library catalogues can now be consulted on the Internet. The British Library's Web version catalogue is searched searched, not just visited - up to 20,000 times every day. That means 20,000 people consult the British Library every day without coming near the building. Having said that, the wide availability of our catalogue and its ease of access gives massive advertisement to our holdings. Many more people can identify items which they then come to our reading room to consult. Computerized searching is also so efficient that researchers turn up many more references than would have been possible in the old card

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catalogue days. The result is that because of the new technology, reading rooms are in even greater demand. What I am saying here, though, is that as the nature of the library's content is changing the catalogue is now invariably electronic and more and more of the collection itself will be held electronically - the relationship between reader and collection is changing. Similarly, the relationship between collection and library building is changing. Less of the collection will be under the library's roof. The collection can be stored virtually anywhere. More radically, the library may not contain anything like what today we regard as a "collection". The librarian may not be responsible for looking after a collection of publications, but instead be expected merely to arrange access to electronic publications stored in servers which might be located on several other continents. In that sense the librarian operates in the mode of what is now widely described as the guide through the information jungle, who knows where information is located, and leads the reader to it sometimes almost by the hand. This marks yet another change in a fundamental relationship between reader and librarian. In the traditional stereotype, readers and librarians are supposed to have a wary regard for another. The Australian writer Germaine Greer once went so far as to say that they hate one another! Librarians are custodians of what readers need to consult, and are sometimes said to be regarded by readers as protective to the point of obsession. On the other hand, readers are frequently said by librarians to be disrespectful of the library's books, and to be the major cause of their deterioration. Now I know you would not expect me to confirm those stereotypes. What I see daily at the British Library is a group of committed library professionals, who have a deep knowledge of the parts of the collection for which they are responsible and a keen understanding of the scholarly research process. Both those areas of expertise are at the disposal of our readers. But the nature of the questions being asked is changing. We are used to readers asking the librarian whether a particular book is available. The librarian is now just as likely to be asked what is published in an area of particular interest, who the leading authors are, and what are the main issues under discussion. This kind of exchange does not necessarily take place across the enquiry desk. New technology is inexorably changing the nature of the discourse between reader and librarian. New technology is changing the relationship between readers and librarians and between both of those groups and the collection. Most people see these changes as for the better, regarding new technology as the major means for improving the nature of the service to readers. In any case, the impact of new technology is inevitable; we cannot just ignore it and hope it goes away, even if we wanted it to. Readers have not always seen it quite like that. Until very recently - they may still exist, I just have not heard from them for a while - I was frequently assailed by a group of

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British Library readers who hated everything electronic. At one meeting they said "The British Library should be making a stand against computers." They particularly disapproved of the online catalogue. They feared that it just would not work, that it would constantly crash, that data would be lost, that the massive keyboarding exercise in converting the old paper catalogue into machine-readable form would introduce hosts of errors, and so on. They made a lot of valid points. We sought to answer them all, and to reassure them. The discussion would have been elegantly described by Nicholson Barker in the style of his famous New Yorker article about library catalogues. The British Library stood accused by a group of readers of being dazzled by technology, of pursuing it, and spending large amounts of money on it, for its own sake. One of Nicholson Barker's concerns was that libraries were wantonly abandoning tried and tested technology, the card catalogue, and relying to an irresponsible extent on an unstable technology with little track record. I would entirely agree with his condemnation of the destruction of the printed catalogue. Not because I admire the technology - of course I do, I also love the smell and feel of the cards - but because the paper, printed catalogue is important information in its own right, which is a source for various kinds of bibliographic research. The British Library's printed catalogue is world-famous. In the old Round Reading Room, it stood between readers and librarians like a fortress wall in a great circular bookcase. Well over 2000 volumes of thick paper bound in canvas, full of pasted-in slips and hand-written amendments. We still have it. It is stored in one of our bookstacks and can be called up if a reader asks for it. But this has not happened. Since we took it off direct access more than two years ago, the old guard book catalogue has not been requested for consultation by a single reader, nor by a single member of staff. The simple fact, as I described earlier, is that machine-readable catalogues are more efficient research tools. Entry to the British Library's collection in the reading rooms is now, practicably speaking, possible only through a computer. While we feared that this would intimidate some readers, events did not bear this out. Admittedly, we provided training and seminars on how to use the new-style catalogue, but it is good to see octogenarians sitting at catalogue terminals, their fingers flying over the keyboard. So far, we have had no real problems with the new technology. I do not believe it has stood in an undesirable way between the readers and the collection, or between the readers and the staff. It has definitely made the readers less reliant on the staff, and that is probably a good thing. What the information technology of the distant future will be like, of course, we have no idea at all. We have tended to be not very good at forecasting the nature of future technology or the demand for it, even into the fairly short-term future. There is a story about the mayor of an American city who at the beginning of the century had a telephone demonstrated to him. He said, "I can see the day ahead when every city will have one!" Henry Warner, of Warner Brothers Film Studio, said in 1927, "Who the hell wants to hear movie actors talk?" Librarians have been not too brilliant in even shortterm predictions about developments in technology. Personally, I will own up to having no idea whatsoever that the World Wide Web would expand so dramatically in the second part of the 1990s.

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What about the book? The book as we know it, a bound volume of print on paper, surely has a firm future. But much of what is presently being produced as books will give way to electronic publishing. How has the telephone directory survived for so long? Here is a book which no one reads. Consult it, yes, but never read it, because 99.9% of the content is of no interest. Surely a CD-ROM or some online service must be more efficient. Similarly, encyclopaedias as multi-volumes are dying. Encyclopaedia Britannica caused a great stir in Britain the other week by announcing that from now on they will publish only electronically. What surprised a lot of people was that it had taken them so long to reach that decision. But poetry, novels, drama, guidebooks - the traditional book is an ideal format for these. The defining characteristic of the book has become its self-contained nature. To open a book and read requires no electric power. No chic grey plastic gizmo into which a disc must be inserted. No software protocol. No password. Take it to bed or the beach. Read it by torch under the covers. Throw sand in it and it makes no complaint. The unsurpassed feature of the book is its immediacy. Nothing - nothing stands between the printed page and us. Nothing stands between me and my lecture notes except my glasses. The book has a flourishing career ahead of it. As long as books are produced we will need library buildings to house them. That direct relationship with information is a precious gift which has been the very basis of learning and progress for thousands of years. We must not take that for granted or treat it lightly. Information technology is only a means to an enlightening end. We must beware any temptation to develop the technology for its own sake, rather than for what it can help us to achieve. We can still pursue, though, the best use of the new digital technologies. These are already providing exciting services and possibilities of new services. Librarians are making substantial use of digital technology, as I have described, to offer their readers infinitely better services. New technology offers escape from the constrictions of the printed page. But new technology does not threaten the library. Let me give another example. One of my favorite British Library products is known as "The Electronic Beowulf'. For those of you who do not know Beowulf, it is a 1,000-year old manuscript, an understanding of which is essential for any knowledge of the way in which the English language has spread and developed. This manuscript has been in the care of the British Library and its predecessors for many centuries, but was unfortunately badly damaged by fire 250 years ago. However, the manuscript has been digitally scanned. Two goals have been achieved. It is now possible to read substantial parts of the manuscript which were damaged by fire, and decipher passages in which the scribe changed his mind and deleted some words and substituted others. Beowulf is now on the World Wide Web. Scholars all over the world now have access to Beowulf in an edition which is, in many ways, superior to the original, because more of it can be read. In addition, the original need not be damaged by handling. What has surprised us, though, is that since Beowulf was mounted on the World Wide Web, we have had more requests than ever to see the original in our Reading Room!

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So despite the impact of new technology and new ways of working, the basic mission of libraries is left intact. This, in my view, is to catalogue published information and acquire it if that is appropriate. If acquired, it should be properly stored and if not, information about its location elsewhere should be stored. The librarian should be responsible for arranging access to any of that information or published material to whoever requires it, whether that be in the library reading room, or elsewhere. The electronic library is well on is way, but I am confident that buildings will still have a role to play. Traditional and electronic media will continue to sit side by side, so to speak, and users, in consultation with librarians, will decide which is the more appropriate for a particular purpose. No new technology has ever totally driven out an earlier one. Libraries will involve library buildings, some of the time, for some purposes. The British Government's Department of Culture, which funds the British Library and is responsible for national policy on libraries, has put libraries higher up the political agenda than they have ever been. More money and, just as important, political backing, has been put behind libraries. Our government sees libraries as a key resource for education, and as our Prime Minister Tony Blair has said, the political agenda is education, education, and education. Personally, I firmly believe that libraries are the most important institutions ever created. Virtually every new invention, virtually every new thought, builds on existing knowledge. If the book is the most potent artefact ever invented by humankind, then let me repeat - libraries represent and define humanity. The buildings that house libraries should reflect their role, and the futures they help create. They should excite the eye as well as the mind. Libraries deserve great buildings.

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Exhibition Gallery

Cafe on the Piazza Photographer Irene Rhoden

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Designing Library Interiors in a Changing Environment: the Singapore Experience Ms NGIANLek Choh Director, Public Library Services And School Library Services National Library Board, Singapore On Singapore Singapore is an island nation of 647.5 sq. km, with a population of 3.7 million people in 1997. This included 0.6 million foreign workers. There are three major racial groups, Chinese, 77%; Malays, 14% and Indians, 7%. The remaining 2% is made up of Europeans and other races. The literacy rate in 1997 was 92.8%, with 45% of the population bilingual in English and Mandarin. The per capita GDP was USD 21,000. Singapore is a densely populated country, with 5,800 persons per sq. km. Some 86% of the population live in government highrise housing, in 20 housing estates. Each housing estate has a population of between 90,000 and 300,000 people, with self-contained public facilities such as schools, markets, banks, community centers, libraries and sports complexes. The town center usually has a shopping mall which caters to the shopping needs of the residents in the estate. IT literacy in Singapore is high. Currently, there are 400,000 Internet subscribers. Increasingly, schools are also providing students with individual Internet accounts to enable them to do independent research work in school and at home. Library Usage The use of public libraries in Singapore is high, judging by the loans and visitors in the past year. A total of 24.8 million items were loaned out during the year, and over 18 million visits were made to the libraries. Compared to four years ago, loans had increased by over 140%, and visitors by nearly 230%. Locating libraries in the right places, and providing user-oriented services make a great difference. Library 2000 Before 1995, all public libraries in Singapore were planned as stand-alone libraries, each on its own piece of land. The 10 public library was opened in Tampines in December 1994, just before the Library 2000 report was completed. The Library 2000 report was accepted by government in March 1995, and the National Library Board (NLB) was set up on 1 September 1995. The recommendations of the report which had an impact on library design were as follows:

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set up 3-tier public library systems (5 regional, 18 community and 100 neighborhood libraries), and co-locate libraries in commercial or institutional buildings in the town centers of housing estates, fast prototyping of new services.

Impact of Recommendations on Library Buildings and Design The recommendation on co-locating libraries with other agencies meant that not all libraries needed to be built as some would be housed in shopping malls developed by other property owners. In 1993, NLB started setting up neighborhood libraries in void decks. Void decks are empty spaces at ground level in an apartment block. These libraries cater to the special needs of children under the age of ten who would usually not visit libraries on their own. Locating libraries right at their doorstep was a good way to attract them to the libraries. The recommendation to fast prototype new services to test the popularity and the viability of these services had a direct impact on the way the libraries were designed, especially in the interior of the libraries. For example, the provision of 24-hour bookdrops to allow users to return their books to the libraries around the clock, impacted on the libraries' exterior and interior layout as part of the book-drop was outside the library and part of it was inside. In the past three years, the NLB had focused its energies mainly in designing the interior layout of the libraries, as those set up during this period were all co-located with other agencies. Much of the lessons learned dealt with end-user usability and convenience. The rest of this paper discusses the lessons learned by NLB in setting up seven new community libraries (of about 1,500 sq. m each) and 36 neighborhood libraries (of about 250 sq. m each) over the past three years. Library Design for End-user Convenience In designing a library, the NLB paid a great deal of attention to end-user convenience. We tried our best to anticipate the way a typical user would use the services in deciding the specification and location for each piece of equipment, furniture or service. Over the three years, the NLB had moved from a staff-assisted library environment to a largely self-help environment. We had designed the layout such that users could logically move from one service to another efficiently. The aim was to reduce time taken by users to do transactions, so that they could have more time to read and learn while they were using the library and its resources. In re-designing our services and moving most of them from staff-assisted to self-help, we estimated to have saved users about 15 million hours a year. Users did not have to

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queue for most services, even on peak days, thanks to the introduction of the selfservice borrowing, book-drops, borrowers' loan enquiry service and cashless payment of overdue fines. The way the library layout was designed was to allow the user to do the following transactions in a logical sequence when they entered the library: • drop their books off at the book-drop which is located just outside the library near the entrance, • walk into the library to be greeted by a staff member who would sit at a counter just outside the security gates, • use their identity cards or library membership cards to check their outstanding loans or payments to the library at the borrower enquiry station, • make any payment due to the library by using the self-service cashless payment facility. The system would automatically delete their fines in the system once the payment was made, • proceed to the customer service desk or online catalogue if they wish to check on any books, • go to the book shelves or multimedia stations to use the resources of the library. To make it easy for the user to find their way in the library, effort was made to locate the above services in a logical manner, all in the vicinity of the library entrance when they first entered the library. Once they had completed steps 1 to 5 above, they would usually go into the interior of the library to browse amongst the collections or stay at the multimedia stations to do their information searches. Impact of Service Prototyping on Library Interior Each new service which was prototyped had an impact on the library layout. In the past three years, some 20 new services were prototyped and a number was rolled-out to the various libraries. These included self-service borrowing, book-drops, cashless payment, multimedia and Singapore One services, radio-frequency identification tagging, doublesided browsing shelves and audio-visual lending service. Self-service borrowing: the area around the entrance of the library was re-designed to take into consideration the space needed for the machines and the queues during peak hours. Counters were specially designed to house the machines to make it ergonomically easy for users of all ages, and for easy servicing of the machines. With self-service borrowing, the size of the customer service counter was reduced as not more than two staff needed to be at the counter to service customers compared to up to eight stations at the counter before self-service borrowing was implemented. Book-drop: The area near the entrance was re-designed to allow for easy access to the book-drop. A space behind the book-drop was created to accommodate the processing of books returned to the library via the book-drop. This space was also used by staff to sort the returned books as between 3,000 to 8,000 books were returned to each branch a day. The interior design of this space proved to be quite a challenge. The design team is still working on improving the flow of work within this space.

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Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagging of library materials: This was a new service prototyped at one of the shopping mall libraries in November 1998. The RFID tags enabled the library to have a RF sensor to automatically cancel the loan of materials when users returned books to the library via the book-drop. During that time, the NLB also tried out a semi-auto sorting system. This allowed for library items to be categorized by holding the items within the range of a RF sensor. A number would appear on the computer screen to inform the staff of the location of the book on the bookshelf which had its shelves numbered. Cashless payment: These machines were first used in the library in August 1998. When found successful, it was implemented in all the libraries in November the same year. The impact on library design was more in space requirement near the entrance of the library, and its location near the self-service borrowing machines. This service also impacted on the customer service counter. The counter size could be further reduced as fewer staff were stationed at the counter, now that there was no need to collect cash for overdue fines and other payments. Multimedia and Singapore One services: With the fast speed of 155 mega bits per second offered via the Singapore One service, NLB was able to stream electronic resources such as CD-ROMs and digitized videos from a central server to all sites in NLB. There was no need to provide space for servers. The only space required was for stations for the users. Double-sided browsing shelves: These shelves sat between the sorting room and the public reading room to enable staff to push out books returned via the book-drops to the public-facing bookshelves within 15 minutes. To achieve this target, the wall on one side of the sorting room was reconfigured to fit in a large shelf which could accommodate 16 categories of high demand collections such as bestsellers, children's picture books, business and computer books. Video and CD-ROM lending service: This service required space and shelving to attractively display the materials for loan. A visible location for the service was important to draw users to the new service. Space for a self-service borrowing station was also needed. The above were some of the new services introduced in the past three years, each of which required special design features. In planning for these services, the design team took great pains to look into every detail necessary to ensure that the new service was well-located and stations were well-designed to make it easy for users to use the service. Special design features Design features went into details such as the following: Provisions • •

standard provisions for the disabled, senior citizens and the young provision of discussion rooms to promote group learning.

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use of local art works to create a rich cultural environment to enhance learning

Furniture/ Furnishing • • • • • •

rounded corners for every piece of furniture durable, functional and attractive furniture adequate space for writing at multimedia stations sensors for doors where trolleys were moving in and out of a room, minimum width of doors and space between shelving to ensure that the trolleys would not scratch the doors or side of shelves access card system for all doors to reduce the need to carry keys around

Colors and lighting • • •

color scheme to match with the colors of the corporate logo special lighting to bring out the best features and to highlight special areas lighting to create a living room ambience

Others •

proper queuing system to reduce criss-crossing of queues on peak days

•

proper directional signage and instructions to guide users in the use of services

Learning Points in Library Interior Design The major learning points included the following: Formation of a project team: it was important that a project team be formed before any work started as setting up a library required much effort and resources. To reduce wastage of resources, it was best to form a project team made up of all the relevant groups from the start of project to define the scope of the project, produce the project plan and estimate the resources required. From experience, the project team would include staff from the following expert groups: property development, collection development, service development, operations, computer systems, corporate and marketing communications, finance and human resource. Each of these groups had a significant part to play in bringing about the outcome of a well-planned library. Full-time personnel: This was possible in NLB as there was a substantial number of new libraries to be set up. During the eight-year period from 1995 to 2003, a total of one new National Library, 13 large public libraries and 96 small libraries would be set up. In addition, five large libraries would have undergone a major upgrade. The advantage of this was that there was the continuity of expertise and knowledge which could be passed on from one project to another, something which could not be done, if a different project team was set up each time a new library was to be set up. Documentation of user requirements: it would be extremely difficult to implement a plan which was not properly documented right from the start as the requirements would

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change over time. The project team had to institute discipline in its members to ensure that all requirements were documented before plans were implemented. This was because the setting up of a library required clear specifications in services, collections, furniture and furnishing, shelving, staffing and training, computerization and finances, amongst others. If any of the requirements were not documented, it was likely to give rise to outcomes which were not expected, often resulting in unnecessary re-work. Selecting the right architect or interior designer: the right choice of designers and contractors was critical in the success of the project. It was not easy to find designers who were familiar with the functional requirements of a library. However, as the NLB was setting up a large number of libraries, it was able to engage a panel of designers for all projects implemented during this period. Developing internal expertise: it was important to speak the language of the internal or external suppliers when planning a library. This was because if the planning team did not have an accurate description of the requirements, chances were that it would not get what was required, due to the vague specifications produced by the project team. During the three-year period, each project team member developed an area of expertise which became very useful when specifying or negotiating for a product or service. Standardizing bulk furniture: In the planning of the first few libraries, every single piece of furniture was specially designed, though the specifications for height, width and depth were defined from the start. For each library, the project team spent a great amount of time scrutinizing designs for every piece of furniture, did a mock up of major items, spent time modifying the proposed furniture until the project team was happy with the design, the colors and the shape, size and comfort of the piece. When the NLB did a business re-engineering exercise in 1997, this was highlighted as one of the areas which could be re-engineered by specifying and tendering for a package of furniture for the use of all NLB libraries for a period of say three years. This recommendation was accepted by the NLB. The process of bulk tendering for furniture was nearing completion now. By reducing the time taken to select the furniture for each library, the lead time taken to set up a library would be shorter. Looking into the Future In a speech given at a world conference held on 19 April 1999 on model cities, our Prime Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong said that "As a small city-state, we are extremely susceptible to external forces and developments. In order to survive, we have to constantly re-define our role. We have to adapt and change as the world and the region around us change. We embrace change and recognize the need to continuously learn". In another speech given on 11 February 1999, he said, "Learning to learn and wanting to learn must be our new culture. Learning can be formal or informal. Lifelong learning is not a new concept. The Chinese have a saying, Huo dao lao, Xue dao lao". In keeping with the national aspiration to encourage all Singaporeans to learn continuously, the NLB has to learn and experiment with new ideas to provide

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innovative services. This will help Singaporeans learn in an exciting, fun and challenging manner throughout their lives. We are trying out the idea of bringing lifestyle habits into the library such as allowing users to drink and enjoy coffee while they are in the libraries, providing discussion rooms with full multimedia facilities where users can discuss and work in small groups on projects required either at work or in schools, and provision of an outdoor garden adjoining the reading room for users to read in nature. In the newly upgraded library in the Toa Payoh new town, a learning center, equipped with 134 computers and video conferencing facilities, allows users to learn interactively with their trainer in real time. An open-air courtyard, complete with a coffee club and a modern water fountain in the newly renovated National Library in Stamford Road allows literary and cultural groups to recite poems, read from their books and perform Chinese opera. This has proved to be extremely popular with our users. The NLB is working on live Web-casting of programmes held in one library to the other libraries so that users can participate in the same programme without going to the same site. This will enable programmes to be enjoyed "live" by users at 16 or more sites, without squeezing them all into one hall. All these new services will have an impact on the design of the library, as each has special requirements needing special attention. For the new NLB building which is being planned, as the library will function not only as a national reference library but also as a public lending library, the appointed architect had expressed that this was an extremely interesting and challenging project. We had required the architect to propose a design for the building which would allow the library to have noisy and lively activity areas for promotions, co-existing with quiet areas for the serious researcher. The opportunities are limitless. NLB is committed to trying out new ways of laying our spaces, rooms, furniture and equipment to make learning fun and as effortless as possible. We want to make every space in the library a learning space, whether it is for the individual or for groups of people. NLB designs its libraries to be learning libraries, a choice destination for Singaporeans of all ages. We are excited that we will have more libraries to set up to try out new ideas in the coming years. At NLB, we are committed to continuously learn and share our experience with the larger library community as we gain more experience in designing libraries to facilitate and encourage learning.

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Bibliography •

$56 million to retrain workers. Singapore, States Times, 2 May 99, p.30.

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Kau, Ah Keng, 7 Faces of Singaporeans: Their values, aspirations and lifestyles/ Kau Ah Keng, Tan Soo Jiuan, Jochen Wirtz. Singapore, Prentice Hall, 1998.

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Library 2000: Investing in a Learning Nation. Report of the Library 2000 Review Committee. Singapore, SNP Publishers, 1994.

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Rethinking ways of harnessing the workforce. Singapore, Straits Times, 12 November 1998, p.45.

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Singapore One enables home of the future: Clementi HDB flat gives a sneak preview of creative living in the Intelligent Island. Singapore, Straits Times, 2 May 1999.

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Singapore 1998. Singapore, Ministry of the Information and the Arts, 1998.

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From Necessity to Reality: Journal of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France Project Jean-Luc BICHET, architect Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris (France) Introduction It has taken 10 years to study, to design, to cany out, to organize, to transfer books and finally to open the new research library, Bibliotheque nationale de France. The first idea of this new building was given by President Francois Mitterrand in July 1988: "the organization and the construction of one of the biggest and most modern libraries in the world". This idea was based on a report of 1987 about the problems and difficulties of the old national library. The two main difficulties were: • •

the book storage area was too small to conserve the French printed book production each year, The periodical and printed book reading rooms were too small.

On November 1988 the Prime Minister ordered a report to identify what should be the function of the new library, required by President Francis Mitterrand: "the new library would cover all the fields of the knowledge, be at the disposal of everybody, would use the new technologies to be consulted from every points of the world, and to be connected with other European libraries". The proposals of the report about the new library were very ambitious. The programme of book storage was to store four million existing printed books, and to have a capacity of 50 years of printed and periodicals for legal deposit. The specialized collections (manuscripts, maps and plans, prints and photographs, coins medals collection, music and opera collection) will still be conserved in the old library. Then on April 1989, the Minister of Culture decided to organize an international design competition. Simultaneously the Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, provided the building site for this library of the 21st century. The building site is in the eastern part of Paris, downtown on the bank of the Seine. International Design Competition Twenty architect teams were selected to design the new building. The American architect I.M. Pei (of Chinese birth), famous in France for the design of the new Louvre Museum, was the chairman of the international jury.

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On 21 August 1989, four project designs were selected and the first of all was unveiled to the media. The design project of Dominique Perrault was chosen and accepted by President Francois Mitterrand. Simultaneously the programme of the new building was modified concerning the storage of four million books. Many researchers and readers contested this choice, so the Minister of Culture decided to transfer to the new building all the printed collections, periodicals and printed books, totaling about 10 million books. Nevertheless the selected design had to integrate these new elements into the programme. Would Dominique Perrault's design be able to face up to this new constraint or would they disrupt and delay the schedule of works? We'll soon see. [More than 50 slides were projected to present the Bibliotteque Nationale de France. A selection of ten of them are presented at the end of the paper.] Conclusion If we analyze few simple points, we can give the main positive qualities of the new building and the main disadvantages. 1

The Building Site

Advantages • in the downtown (access, proximity, buses, metro ...) • the neighborhood is new. All the town facilities will be present • near the river. It is easy to locate the building. Disadvantages • The site in a large city means it is necessary to organize and locate part of the building underground. 2

The Schedule

From the first idea to the deadline of the opening for the research library, ten years are not enough. 3

The Design of the New Building

Advantages The strength of the design lies in the reading rooms: • • • •

cloister concept with pine trees which give serenity for readers simplicity of the architecture "less is more": Mies Van der Rohe Prize in 1997 qualities of the atmosphere of the reading rooms (wood, warm colors, clean lines of the furniture, design...) a new public esplanade for Paris

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the 80-meter high tower forms a new public monument.

Disadvantages • •

lower bookstore offices behind the reading rooms are without natural light. organization of the concentrical areas around the garden means long distances between the administration departments because they are located on the perimeter of the building.

And let's conclude with this thought: There is no perfect library. Each of these three designs has inbuilt qualities and unseen disadvantages, just like the present building. Evaluation and Improvements of the new Building Since the opening of the research library with its 2500 seats on 10 October 1998, a certain number of its initial technical aspects have shown their limitations and weaknesses. A report and an evaluation of these were rapidly undertaken, and the following subjects were examined. 1 Areas for the public: improvement of the directional and information signs improvement of delivery of information to researchers improvement of eating facilities for the readers inside the library. 2

Work spaces: improvement of working conditions, improvement of conditions of mobility within the building, improvement of efficiency of work spaces. A development plan of work spaces in the core area of the building is in progress.

Since the delivery of materials to the readers is a priority since it is a public service, certain improvements have already been completed. These improvements concern the reliability of materials (shelves, storage areas, movable storage, automatic transportation of documents) and the creation of certain work spaces (delivery area for documents before being put at the reader's disposal). Programming all of these improvements for the future has been established with priorities in order to perfect the building and these services.

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Biblioth£que nationale de France Situation et desserte

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