In recent years the library community has seen a renewed interest in library architecture and design. This is due to the change of focus from content and collection development to how libraries engage with their users in a digital age. This means that librarians, architects, politicians and patrons must develop new visions, concepts and ideas for the design and building of libraries. This book brings together a number of articles based on presentations from the IFLA World Congress 2009: historical view of the development of children's libraries over the last century, a look at how children use new media, libraries of the future, innovative design projects for children's libraries from around the world. current theme historical view and new projects

Providing tips, suggestions, and guidelines on the critical issues that surround designing spaces for children and teens, this how-to book will help you create a space that they will never want to leave. This must-have guide includes How to select an architect or design professional The importance of including YA librarians in the design and implementation Information on how children and teens view and use space 20 color photos of example spaces Whether your space is large or small, in a library or public place, this resource will give you creative and practical ideas for using the space to its full potential!

Through the real-life examples in this book, readers will learn how the successful modification of existing library buildings or the creation of new buildings requires the active participation and effective collaboration of library board members, administrators, librarians, and architects.

As a developmental psychologist with a strong interest in children's re sponse to the physical environment, I take particular pleasure in writing a foreword to the present volume. It provides impressive evidence of the con cern that workers in environmental psychology and environmental design are displaying for the child as a user of the designed environment and indi cates a recognition of the need to apply theory and findings from develop mental and environmental psychology to the design of environments for children. This seems to me to mark a shift in focus and concern from the earlier days of the interaction between environmental designers and psy chologists that occurred some two decades ago and provided the impetus for the establishment of environmental psychology as a subdiscipline. Whether because children-though they are consumers of designed environments are not the architect's clients or because it seemed easier to work with adults who could be asked to make ratings of environmental spaces and comment on them at length, a focus on the child in interaction with en vironments was comparatively slow in developing in the field of environ ment and behavior. As the chapters of the present volume indicate, that situation is no longer true today, and this is a change that all concerned with the well-being and optimal functioning of children will welcome.

Don't simply accommodate families with young children—draw them in and make your library a destination!

The interior design language of the 21st century is the language of retail, and libraries must be fluent to be successful. Most patrons are unaware of the variety of services and offerings that their local library can provide. Rightly or wrongly, library patrons expect robust merchandising, easily accessible spaces and self-directed way finding. Library Space Planning: A PLA Guide is a brief and to-the-point guide that will help you to understand these ideals and recreate them in your library. In addition, you will learn how to improve the functionality of your space in the short, medium and long-term, and discover how libraries can use the ideas herein to aid patrons in discovery, discernment and delivery.

Familiar landmarks in hundreds of American towns, Carnegie libraries have shaped the public library experience of generations of Americans and today seen far from controversial. In Free to All, however, Abigail Van Slyck shows that the classical facades and symmetrical plans of these buildings often mask the complex and contentious circumstances of their construction and use.