Libraries have quietly changed over the last 20 years. They have adapted early and consciously to the changes of digitalization, they have recognized the changed need of their users for collaborative work and derived new spatial concepts from this. Transparency and access to information, knowledge and encounters are the prerequisites for holistic social development. It is the challenge of the 21st century as the information age. This book presents the latest developments in library architecture as well as the way scientists and architects are meeting this challenge. With essays by Achim Bonte, Catherine Lau, Max Dudler, Georg Gewers, Henning Larsen Architects, MSAO Architects, Claudia Lux, Marco Muscogiuri, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Snøhetta, Sauerbruch Hutton, gmp Architects followed by a conversion with Oliver Jahn and Dante Bonuccelli. Watch the first Knowledge Talk: KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL with Prof. Dr. Claudia Lux and Prof. Dr. Eike Schmidt on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKk_wRBGt1E The new role of the Uffizi, Florence and the opening of knowledge to a wider society are subject of the first Knowledge Talk with Prof. Dr. Claudia Lux and Prof. Dr. Eike Schmidt live from the Uffizi on International Museum Day, May 18, 2021. The Knowledge Talk connects the topics from the new publication "Libraries and Their Architecture in the 21st Century".

Library design in the 21st century has one common theme: collaboration is at the heart of innovation. Designing modern libraries is a complex process involving many stakeholders and participants. Libraries of all types work with an almost limitless range of constituent groups for input, buy-in and successful implementation. Securing support for new library buildings and renovations of libraries engages many people: library clients, community members, faculty, funding agencies, donors, governing authorities, librarians, architects, interior designers and planners. Telling the right story and getting to the end game demand carefully crafted approaches, wide-ranging skills, a unified vision and productive teamwork. The IFLA Library Buildings and Equipment Section has selected the best papers presented by award-winning architects and international thought leaders from the academic and public library sector at our recent satellite conferences and seminars: "Collaborative Strategies for Successful Library Design" (Chicago, Illinois), "What comes after the Third Place?" (Columbus, Ohio); "Key Issues for Library Space: International Perspectives" (Maynooth, Ireland); "Storage, the final frontier" (Munich, Germany) and "Telling and selling the space story" (Wrocław, Poland). The stories by the library and design professionals within this publication illustrate how powerful a role partnerships, outreach and cooperation play in a library project’s success.

Public Libraries in the 21st Century presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of recent policy initiatives directly targeted at public libraries along with broader developments in the public sector environment within which they operate. Key features include: • An exploration of the context within which public libraries are operating and analysis of their role in local and national life; • Examples of best practice in service delivery; • Evaluation of the challenges and opportunities confronting public library managers; • Wide ranging coverage, including information from published and unpublished sources, supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders in the public library sector. The book provides a unique and thorough guide to the contemporary discourses surrounding issues of identity, social purpose, value and strategy facing the public library service.

Despite calls for electronic, virtual, digital libraries without walls, the walled variety are still being built, some of them massive. This book explores the reasons for this contradiction by examining several notable new library facilities around the world to see how modern expectations for libraries are being translated into concrete and steel. More and more libraries are looking at change not as a dreaded hazard but as an opportunity that can itself be seized to strengthen the library in the areas of mission, technologies, facilities, funding, and organizational structure. Thirteen libraries are discussed--by a librarian or administrator who worked on the project. Each author writes about the design and building concerns that were particularly relevant to that library: philosophy, political issues, or any other concerns that affected planning, building, and services in the new facility. Introductory and concluding chapters identify underlying values and themes, tying everything together. The unique combinations of issues, constraints, and opportunities show how libraries are planning to fit into the approaching era of virtual information delivery.

The New Public Library is an in-depth design study of an exemplary collection of recent public libraries, and the historical precedents that have informed and inspired their development. An introductory overview presents seven critical themes that characterize public library design, past and present, highlighting the expressive architectural potential of this unique and important building type. A survey of over 40 historically significant libraries traces the development of the building type over time, with a primary focus on precedents from the US and northern Europe, where the modern public library originated, and its design has been most comprehensively developed. A selection of nearly 50 contemporary projects from the past 30 years focuses on the most current developments in public library design, with a diverse and varied collection of work by over 35 regional, national, and international design firms. Highly visual in its presentation, the study includes 885 color photographs and illustrations, and 195 scale drawings.

Result of a conference organised by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Netherlands Public Library Association, on the occasion of the Dutch presidency of the Council of Europe on the 18th and 19th of March 2004 in The Hague and Apeldoorn. New functions and forms of public libraries in the 21st century were the central theme about which more than 150 participants of over 35 countries discussed. It was an expert meeting of governmental policy makers as well as professionals from the library field, and it includes library building and city planning, new public library concepts and its reflection in attractive and sustainable design and public library building. Consists of lectures, recommendations to the Council of Europe, seminar, survey reports on the situation of public libraries in European countries.