The architectural and interior design planning process - Library Finance: New Needs, New Models

Library Trends, Wntr, 1994 by Elaine Cohen

Another example of important guidelines concerns the roof and the suspended ceiling. Under no circumstances should either be dropped over the main stacks to minimize construction costs. This is a tactic used by many architects. In a single story building, initial costs can be somewhat lessened by reducing the total cubic area to be erected. In a multistory building, by dropping the suspended ceiling and letting the ducts run just above it, less interior space has to be finished which, in turn, minimizes costs. At first glance these tactics appear to have a second benefit - the possible reduction of utility costs as well. There is less space to heat, air condition, or light. Unfortunately, by dropping the roof or the suspended ceiling, spaces meant for human habitation in the public service area are created that are only seven and one half feet tall.

Although this is tall enough to accommodate nearly everyone - except perhaps one or two of this nation's basketball players - it can cause the feeling of claustrophobia. Most of us live in homes with finished ceilings about eight feet high, and we are conditioned to like public spaces with ceilings that are even higher. In a place of public accommodation, seven and one half feet is just too low.

Designers agree but argue that few people stay in the stacks for hours on end and reading areas with taller ceilings tend to be only steps away. But what will happen in the future is the primary concern. More than likely, in five, ten, or fifteen years a percentage of bookstacks will no longer be needed. The materials - perhaps bound indexes or periodical backfiles - will be removed and access to the resources will be substituted with online services or CD-ROM networks or some other form of networked micromedia. How can a library recycle public service space that is only seven and one half feet high?

The same question relates to self-supporting stacks. During the open access heyday, from the early 1950s through the late 1980s, purchases of hard copy grew geometrically decade after decade. To squeeze all this material into buildings with insufficient floor space, self-supporting stacks were installed in libraries all over the country. The height of three tiers amounted to about twenty-three feet. From slab to slab, even the lowest ceilinged building had two floors with about twenty-four feet. Thus, self-supporting stacks can be found in any number of "modern" buildings as well as those that are nearly a century old.

Typically, these structures depend on uprights that pierce each deck and support the stacks above. To demount even one stack, it is essential to start at the top; to do otherwise would cause the whole structure to fall down. Unfortunately, the space on the first floor is what everyone covets the most. The only way to make that space available but leave the upper tiers of the self-supporting stack intact, is to remove shelves and leave the uprights right where they are. The result is an unattractive area studded with posts every three feet. Because the problem is so endemic, there are any number of libraries that contain at least one such area. Witness seating in an academic library with three foot wide student carrels shoved between the uprights. At more than one major public library, workstations have been installed in the decks, and the staff forced to work in them often complain about the conditions vociferously.