Did you know that is important to think about the site of the libraries?

Well I´ve never thought about it. Whenever I have seen a library, I have never thought they had to think about the site where they stood.

Not only that. It´s not just the site that is important but the orientation of the building is equally important.

Why is the site important?

The libraries should be near the centre of town or city, or near commercial areas, or near institutional buildings. They have to be connected by bus or train. Having easy access to it.

Why is the orientation of the building important?

For our eyes comfort, the reading rooms should be facing south. The storage should face north or east to avoid that the documents get damaged by sunlight.

There are other aspects to consider when building a new library or refurbishing an old building to convert it into a library.

The libraries that have just the ground floor will have less expenses than the ones that have several floors. The libraries that have more than one floor will have more expenses because of the lifts. I´ve never even thought about that!!!

There are other types of libraries that instead of having just one building, they have several, like the university´s libraries (one in each campus).

It doesn´t matter what type of library it is. They all should follow the same recommendations.

The architect Faulkner-Brown gave 10 recommendations:

1. Adaptability. The building should adapt easily to different services.

2. Compactness. There should be areas of the library where documents must be kept stored and that storage should be as compact as possible to have more free space.

3. Easy Access. The library should be accessible to everyone and be well connected.

4. Extensibility. It should be able to be extended for the future.

5. Variety. The collection should be varied and the library should give different services.

6. Organization. Everything must be organized to find things with ease.

7. Comfortable. The library should be comfortable so people feel good when coming in.

8. Eco-friendly. The library should look out for the environment.

9. Safe. It should be a safe place to study or do research.

10. Cost effective. The library must be cost effective. If it has too many expenses, it will have to be closed.

I bet you will never look at a library the same way now!!!