Seattle & Amsterdam - anyone seen this ?

Check out this TED talk on the new Seattle Public Library by the architect Joshua Prince-Ramus.I particularly like two points he makes: the importance of the book (minute 2:30), and the percentage of library programs that require social space (minute 5:22).

The library as public space has three functions, as proposed by Jan Gehl of the Royal Danish Academy which Seattle Public Library has honoured in its' new building:

1. Meeting space;
2. Marketplace - (the trade being ideas and artifacts rather than money);
3. Connection space.


Been to Amsterdam lately ? I was stunned to see the new Amsterdam Central Library has a special floor with MACs dedicated for music when I was there in December ! What a great idea to mix and match pc/non pc systems.

You can really feel that they have considered the 'Net Gen' and believe they have a role to play in selecting excellent quality resources, not just providing free access to information - the Internet does that. In order for the Graduate Resource Centre to flourish there must be a similar devotion to supporting the teaching, learning and research needs of the faculty.

User-Centred Design

One of the most annoying parts of moving a library and planning for the future space is that no one has time to spend thinking through all the possible future uses of the new space.
I mentioned Dr. Peter Jones in a previous post and he shared his tools of Foresight planning used by the University of Toronto Libraries in the study of e-books.

I can see the usefulness of doing a Strategic Foresight Plan, but I also think that given limited time and resources there is much to be said for reviewing old plans, current visions, and then utilizing the engaged constituents - the students - to talk about what are they doing.

Work practice studies, in the tradition of ethnography, are integral to User Experience Design world - see post below -and in Participatory Design. Rather than trying to engage stakeholders in roundabout discussions on what they would like to see in the Graduate Resource Centre, it is far more fascinating to review what students, staff and faculty actually do in their work and extrapolate potential programs, services and resources that correspond to user needs.
The University of Toronto ischool Inforum (a library by any other name...) is another example of how Andrew Clement's User Centred information Systems course led students to develop the floor plan with computer desks custom-made to offer space for collaboration and privacy as needed. It is a student-led project from more than 10 years ago which is still the dominant space plan today as you can sort of see in this image.

Space and Design for All

Trying to track down some specifics on universal accessibility and found a good site on Design for All. This concept takes off where Accessible Design starts, some key principles:

-Equitable use
-Flexibility in use
-Simple and intuitive
-Tolerance for error ( I like that )
-Low physical effort
-Size and space for approach and use
(from the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University)

The principles of flexible, simple and useful are deceptively easy words to toss around. But finding your way to first steps can be tricky. The planning phase should start within the context of a culture of assessment rather than a system of theoretical approaches.

Western Libraries has made changes and improvements that follows the results from a variety of assessment tools, such as LibQUAL, SAILS, etc.

Space planning is a logical extension of implementing results that come from assessing user needs regularly. Design follows from the problems and concerns, the successes and strengths related by assessments and reports of the past.

On the way

This presentation is a great excuse to get back to my passion for newspapers and check out some old favourites. I grew up on 3 newspapers a day: The Globe & Mail, The Vancouver Sun and the first major newspaper to go online - The Christian Science Monitor.
Although I am still a loyal Globe reader I would never say it is the finest read out there. I am happy to say my top three are:

1. The Mail and Guardian - two reasons = culture and cartoons.

2. Helsingin Sanomat - the online Finnish version is a thing of beauty.

3. Guardian - no need to say more, it is simply the best.

User Experience Design

So while I am waiting to be invited to the Google Wave party I want to check out some of the ideas that Dr. Peter Jones from the Ontario College of Art and Design mentioned in his talk at Guelph last week.

uxnet The User Experience Network

I like this approach to Human Computer Interaction and I haven't heard about design sustainability before.

"Human-centered design directly supports the first two pillars of sustainability:

Economic - matching a design to user's needs and abilities enhance its utilization, quality, and efficiency, thus providing cost effective solutions and reducing the likelihood that systems products and services will be rejected by their users;

Social - taking a human-centered approach results in systems, products and services which are better for the health and wellbeing of their users, including users with disabilities." - User Experience Network - About

And I want to get back into the loop with the people at the Participatory Design Conference and see if they have any useful links to space planning ideas and universal accessibility.

Google Wave

This is it. I am going to jump in. I asked my local techie guru Wayne Johnston about it and he says he loves it. And, I just read the OLA Access article by Michelle Chau of Toronto Public Library "Waving at the future". She's raving about Google Wave too.

So, I will take my mantra - forget about the culture of being perfect in the library - and play a little with this new toy.