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The following article, written by Amanda Saville, is a summary of the author's experiences as the client for three major new library buildings. It attempts to provide some advice and help for others contemplating a new library or significant refurbishment project by taking readers through the various stages of a development project. It assumes that the reader has no prior experience of managing building projects and offers some practical suggestions for a library client to consider. The projects on which the author was involved are listed at the end of the article and readers who would like to learn more are encouraged to go to the websites of the three institutions as all of them include detailed information and many images of the buildings.

In this article David Gee, the Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS), describes the recent two year ‘IALS Transformation Project’ that Charles Clore House at 17 Russell Square has undergone and the benefits for the Institute and its library that have resulted from the refurbishment work that has been carried out. He looks at the aims of the project, explains how a continuity of services and activities during the works has been assured and how the transformation of the building meets the needs of the postgraduate law students and legal researchers of today.

This article written by Helen Garner, the Bodleian Law Librarian, reviews three different building projects that have taken place at the Bodleian Law Library (BLL) between 2010 and 2020. The three projects were all undertaken independently of each other and have transformed the BLL. This article discusses each project and explains the work that was completed. This is followed by a summary of the impact of the projects and the lessons learnt.

Existing studies provide evidence that buildings and the construction sector are the largest consumers of natural resources and carry the greatest responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reverse this situation, future challenges involve utilising the lowest amount of resources possible. To this end, building refurbishment has become a crucial strategy, given its potential to improve operational energy efficiency and to extend the life span of existing building stock, thereby reducing the environmental impact while also providing social and economic benefits to our cities. Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) has become one of the scientific community’s most widely recognised methodologies for the evaluation of the social, economic, and environmental dimensions (triple bottom line), as it assesses sustainability using quantitative metrics. However, the implementation of this methodology to support the refurbishment process at the project stage in building design tools, such as BIM, remains scarce. One of the main obstacles lies in the difficulties of accessing building information, given that the system boundaries only cover new materials and products. Hence, this study proposes a BIM plug-in developed to support multi-dimensional building material selection in the early design steps based on the LCSA of a building during the refurbishment stage and validates its application in a case study. The results show the viability of using this tool during the early design stages and demonstrate the consistency of the results for evaluating various material and product alternatives for the refurbishment of the envelope system of a multi-family residential building. This study contributes towards the integration of decision-making by providing real-time assessment of a building envelope.

The study investigated the availability of library aesthetics for enhanced educational purpose of library patronage by users in federal university libraries in South East, Nigeria. Three specific objectives guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted in the study. The population consist of twenty-four thousand, two hundred and sixty three (24,263) users. The sample size is three hundred and eighty-eight (388). Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the sample respondents. A questionnaire titled Influence of Library Aesthetes on Users' Patronage Questionnaire (ILAUPQ) and observation checklist were used in data collection. Simple percentage, mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis. The result shows that theavailable library aesthetics facilities are ventilation, signage, lightning, art drawing; interior and exterior decoration; library aesthetics influence users' educational purpose of library patronage; and users' perception is that library aesthetics make the library conducive, comfortable and exciting for reading, learning and research.Based on these findings it was recommended that library aesthetics should be considered in the design, renovation, refurbishment and redesign of university libraries to appeal to the taste of users. High quality and standardized library aesthetics facilities should be used in building university libraries for sustainability and long lifespan. Proper maintenance measures should be created in order to preserve the library aesthetics facilities.

The indoor environmental quality of a library greatly affects the comfort and productivity of its users while preserving the materials. Despite the high energy consumption of HVACs in libraries, achieving acceptable thermal conditions, acceptable acoustics, and sufficient daylight levels for users remains a challenge. There are limited studies on the IEQ of educational buildings, especially regarding the current situation of libraries. It is important to conduct further studies to define design guidelines promoting indoor environmental conditions. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the IEQ of a campus library to recommend retrofitting strategies. The IEQ parameters in the rare collection room, which houses special collections, and in the library hall were assessed using a full-scale measurement, with eight HOBO data loggers and sensors deployed in various locations to monitor IEQ. A comparison of the results with the standards revealed that rare collection room was unsuitable for maintaining rare collections, as the average indoor air temperature exceeded 21.2 °C, which is beyond the threshold limit. Additionally, the relative humidity ranged from 51.3% to 55.8%, which is marginally high. To provide acceptable indoor conditions, this study recommends retrofitting strategies for the exterior walls, such as using cement plaster with a low thermal conductivity. In the library hall, the reading zone was found to be thermally uncomfortable. The air velocity was below the range of 0.15 ms−1 to 0.50 ms−1 recommended by MS 1525. The average CO2 level was 479.5 ppm, with some points registering an increase of up to 588 ppm. The noise level in the library hall ranged between 43 dB(A) and 61 dB(A), while the light intensity was below 300 lux in the reading area, which is not within the acceptable range. This study suggests improvement solutions, such as implementing an air temperature between 24.5 and 26.5 °C for higher thermal comfort and increasing the window-to-wall ratio to utilize natural daylight. These findings provide insights into the design of new libraries and the renovation of existing ones, ensuring that libraries continue to serve as vibrant centers of knowledge and learning for generations to come.

ABSTRACTBackgroundThere is a growing recognition of the need to make the built environment in towns and cities more enabling for people with dementia. This study reports the development of a reliable tool to assess the support provided to people with dementia by public and commercial buildings such as council offices, supermarkets, banks, and medical centers as they approach, use, and leave them. MethodsA three-step process was carried out to develop and establish the reliability of the tool: (1) a review of principles and available tools informed the development and modification of an environmental audit tool of proven utility, (2) the draft tool was subjected to an iterative process of evaluation by a team of people with expertise in design and town planning, people with dementia and their carers, (3) inter-rater reliability and internal consistency were assessed on a sample of 60 public and commercial buildings. ResultsThe review of available tools led to the drafting of a tool that was refined through iterative, experience-based evaluation resulting in a tool that has high inter-rater reliability and internal validity. The data gathered enabled a sample of banks, libraries, shops, medical facilities, supermarkets and council offices to be compared. ConclusionsThe new tool aids the collection of reliable information on the strengths and weaknesses of public and commercial buildings. This information is likely to be of use in the refurbishment of these buildings to improve their support of people with dementia as they use them in their daily life.

Embarking on a library space planning odyssey is exciting, terrifying and all absorbing. Planning a new library building or a major refurbishment is a challenging process requiring a strong strategic vision, attention to detail, excellent communication and an element of crystal-ball gazing. This article, written by Karen Latimer, examines the changing typology and current trends in library building design which help planners to envisage the future library and make informed decisions. These trends include the move from collections to connections, the need for varied and flexible learning spaces, sustainability, the impact of technological developments, and the need for scholarly research centres amongst others. Examples of recent library projects are cited to provide inspiration and illustrate the points made. The planning process required to brief the design team effectively and to achieve a successful outcome is considered as is the key role of post-occupancy evaluation in ensuring a continuous loop of improvement. To conclude resources available to provide support are described.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a novel approach to inform heritage conservation based on the effective integration of documentation-based research with advanced survey methods for the creation of a sharable historic building information modelling (HBIM) objects database, specifically oriented to the study of Carnegie libraries whose designs in the USA and the UK were somewhat systematised by early principles of standardisation. The aim is to generate an exemplar developing new methodologies for the salvage, re-use and re-invigoration of shared inherited public buildings which have many common and standardized features.Design/methodology/approachThis project will also involve the collaboration of conservation practice and digital recording together with library history. Digital laser scanning and structure from motion will be used together with archival documents to accurately build an information-rich framework for CAD and building information modelling applications.FindingsBy providing the base elements for the semi-automatic generation of a wide variety of morphological typologies and construction elements, this work ultimately promotes a shift towards the implementation of HBIM to support the conservation, maintenance and management of a high number of insufficiently protected public buildings from the turn of the last century.Originality/valueThe intention is that the resulting multidimensional parametric object library will provide suitable support for the faster generation of enriched 3D historic models and ultimately support the preservation of a large proportion of the huge but threatened public library building heritage in the UK and USA.

Sustainable lighting designs, with a view to achieve an adaptive reuse, refurbishment and conservative rehabilitation of cultural heritage, focusing on lighting quality, mainly obtained from the optimal use of natural light combined with artificial one, is the main aim of our present research. A historical Florentine monastery, which was turned into a university library, i.e. Santa Marta University Library in Florence, was used as a pilot project. Energy saving, natural light control combined with artificial light regulation, sustainable and quality lighting by means of optic fiber textile integration, acted as fundamentals of the proposed sustainable adaptive, non-invasive, reversible and easily removable lighting design. The integrated use of natural light with LED systems and optic fibers by means of a command structure made with supervision and home automation systems based on Konnex, the first open building automation standard, allows lighting solutions for quality and environmental and energy sustainability in cultural heritage. Results showed that the proposed methodological approach allows lighting proposals with the aim of building adaptive reuse, based on architectural structure optimal use, historical-philological reading of the indoor environment, cultural heritage (CH) preventive protection and conservation, but also people and works of art \"health and well-being\".