JA Library Expertise Highlighted at Library Journal Design Institute

by Meredith Schwartz for Library Journal

Library Journal’s Design Institute in Missoula, Montana tackled new needs, tools, and techniques for library design in inspiring surroundings. LJ ’s recent Design Institute took place in Missoula Public Library’s (MPL) newly constructed home nestled between rolling hills. The beautiful top-floor event space featured dramatic views and was filled with a crowd of librarians and architects eager to engage with the changing challenges of designing a truly great library.

RESPONDING TO CHANGE

Mona Johnston Zellers, partner, Johnston Architects, and Jane Catalano, principal interior designer, Noll & Tam Architects, were moderated by Xavier Kneedler-Shorten, dean’s assistant, Mansfield Library, University of Montana, Missoula, for “Changing Role of Technology and Responsive Design.”

Zellers began by discussing how the building responds to its context, such as taking advantage of daylight yet making it easy to shade, and using prevailing winds for ventilation. On the user side, she mentioned the need to plug in a laptop all over the library.

Catalano agreed, saying libraries “always need more power everywhere.” Catalano urged raised floor systems if possible, noting that low-profile ones are sufficient for power even if there’s not room to handle ventilation, and that if neither is an option, over-carpet systems are available.

Xaview Kneedler-Shorten from Mansfield Library moderated a panel on tech-responsive design, featuring Johnston Architects’ Mona Johnston Zellers and Noll & Tam’s Jane Catalano. Photos by Kevin Henegan

As more people work remotely, Zellers noted increased need for acoustically isolated spaces. To preserve staff sightlines, she is using glass walls. Catalano added that pre-made pods are a potentially cheaper, more flexible alternative. They cost $10,000–$40,000, have their own lights and ventilation, and can be moved around. She also raised the possibility of using “acoustic treatments and white noise to create good spaces for this kind of thing without putting walls around them.” Zellers noted that furniture can be arranged to create semi-enclosed, semi-private spaces.

Catalano noted that it’s not enough to build in tech without also having staff on hand to train patrons to use it. And too much technology can be off-putting. “We might get tempted to say, ‘Ooh, touch screens everywhere, it’s so great,’ but some people are not comfortable using that.” Similarly, she noted, the common trend of replacing desktop computers with laptops may not work for all audiences.

Zellers emphasized the importance of seeing what is working—and not working—in other libraries. Kneedler-Shorten offered the example of the one-button recording studio. Mansfield Library implemented one because a staffer learned about them at another library, and has now spun off a lightboard studio and podcast room as well.

LIBRARIES AS CENTERS OF RESILIENCY

Wrapping up the day, Ray Johnston, founding partner of Johnston Architects, and Dagmara Larsen, principal, MSR Design, addressed libraries as places of resiliency, moderated by Emily Petty Puckett, interim associate university librarian for operations, University of Michigan.

Larsen polled the audience about what natural disasters they face: Drought, fire and smoke, strong winds, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, and extreme heat waves all impacted attendees, and, as Larsen noted, are getting more severe and frequent. Johnston added social issues such as homelessness, poverty, and economic downturns, raising the concept of social resilience.

Larsen noted that the host library faces a smoke season so severe that you can’t see out of the windows. MSR built in filtration and air distribution so the library can serve as “a place of respite when your home is smokey and you need a place to hang out with your kids.”

Johnston said that in one area, fires spurred local nonprofits to band together and realize they could achieve more. “That social resiliency formed the foundation of the fundraising for a new facility that would be a place of refuge.”

Illuminating the notion of libraries as resilient places were Johnston Architects’ Ray Johnston, MSR’s Dagmara Larsen, and moderator Emily Petty Puckett. Photo by Kevin Henegan

Larsen added an example from Idaho. Facing drought and heat, increasing temperatures, power outages, and rising energy prices, the library aimed to serve as a cooling place. That’s as much about knowing the site as it is about technology, Johnston noted: analyzing glare and heat gain from sunlight. The solution can be as simple as a sunscreen system or the form of the building, he said, as well as using “solar panels and other alternative energy sources to feed very efficient heating and cooling systems.”

Larsen noted that high- and low-tech solutions can be used together or as alternatives. At MPL, MSR used fresh air sensors. “When there is smoke, the building shuts down, so it is self-circulating.” But, she noted, that won’t work during a power outage. “If we didn’t have tech and power, what would we do?” Such “passive solutions” include thicker walls, black roofs to absorb heat, or towers to create a chimney effect.

Johnston said he kicks off design projects with an eco-charette including the owner, city officials, and contractor to discuss how to make a building more sustainable. This is required for LEED certification, he said, but worth doing even if a library doesn’t plan to apply. “You can often think of several things that are going to be sustainable and reduce your operating costs.” Daylight, for instance, not only decreases power bills, but makes a building more resilient to power loss. Larsen added, “Don’t think of the outside space as an accessory that you cut first” if the budget needs trimming. “Shady things outside the building are a working passive strategy that is cheaper than cooling.”

As a step toward social resilience, Larsen suggested designing libraries that allow for taking in children in the summer or for an overnight stay and feeding them. She urged, “if you don’t have a kitchen, have one, it’s the heart of survival.”

Larsen closed the program with inspiring words: “The resilience of your community is because of you.”

This article first appeared in the Library Journal on November 16, 2022.