As libraries continue to confront having to reposition themselves in the face of disruptive forces, librarians are commonly faced with a concomitant need to plan the redevelopment of buildings or fully grasp the opportunity of a new build. In parallel to this trend we have seen a growing number of articles and books aiming to assist the librarian through these challenging processes. This title stands out amidst these offerings in scope and in the quality of its thinking. Read as a whole, it provides a range of practices for the framing of library space and encapsulates the growing recognition of the critical influence of spatial design on learning and the provision of library services in the fullest sense. “Space and service”, notes Watson, “are inseparable […] the provision of space is a service in its own right”. The book both argues for and well illustrates that position.
Much of its merit can be attributed to its editor Les Watson – a recurring presence throughout. Watson brings a genuine depth of experience in the field, having been instrumental in the development of Glasgow’s innovative Saltire Centre and subsequently worked as a consultant on learning spaces. Multi-authored books are always challenged to balance the gains that diverse perspectives can bring versus the loss of coherence a single author can provide. Watson addresses that dilemma through wrapping the many contributions into a tight thematic structure built around a more conceptual bridging, with the middle section authored solely by him. Short introductions and summaries assist continuity.
Part 1 (Projects and Trends) surveys library space in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries through a selection of case studies of welcome diversity. It is genuinely global in aspect – the inclusion of a range of Asian and Australasian projects affording a sense of how culture and geography can shape needs and space.
Part 2 (Trends and Ideas) confronts the slippery “why and how of library learning space”, the contextual factors that are often inadequately addressed. In four summary chapters, Watson offers an insightful sketch of existing and emerging conceptions of library and learning spaces. Broad in their foundations and speculations, they leave you wanting a fuller development of many of the threads and themes. While such development is offered in the following Part 3 contributions, these are inevitably more piecemeal, not the systematic summations that one informed commentator might provide.
Part 3 (Ideas and Futures) is cast as an “ideas bank for future thinking”. Many picking up the book will be drawn expectantly to this section. The long lead times, for building projects and clear need to incorporate genuine future flexibility in the face of a range of unknowns, create obvious anxieties. Trends are a partial guide at best in the midst of a substantive disruption of approaches to the delivery of teaching and learning. Fourteen short contributions offer both evolutionary and more radical recastings of library space, with their scope implicitly evidencing the value of applying a range of disciplines to the design of learning environments. Watson notes that such intersections of fields, disciplines or cultures can facilitate a potential “Medici effect” – an emergence of distinctive approaches not conceivable from within one frame.
The recurring, critical point that Watson and other practitioners emphasize, is the need for diversity and flexibility with particular attention paid to facilitating an intuitive flow of users through spaces according to their perceived needs. This is not of course an easy gain, particularly when faced with reshaping “old space” rather than the clean slate of a new build. The pleasing attention by various contributors to the affective dimensions of space assists this endeavour. It puts the user, rather than resources, at the centre and makes explicit the critical influence of space on learning behaviours. Spatial designer Hugh Anderson conveys this well in his chapter on the enduring aspects of learning as “the rediscovery of the social basis of effective communication […] characterized not by the smell of books […] [but by] the smell of shared endeavour”.
“Creating 21st century learning space is currently […] a risky but rewarding activity”, Watson observes. Reflective reading of this resource will serve to reduce some of those risks and contribute to the development of spaces that will more innovatively provide for known and emergent user needs.
