Using Community Engagement to Shape Public Library Design
“Information helps you to see that you're not alone. That there's somebody in Mississippi and somebody in Tokyo who all have wept, who've all longed and lost, who've all been happy. So the library helps you to see, not only that you are not alone, but that you're not really any different from everyone else.” - Maya Angelou
Architecture must prioritize people in every aspect from conception to completion. As public library architects, it is important for us to incorporate the needs of the community as well as stakeholders.
The Role of Public Libraries in a Community
Libraries are the heart of a community and play a vital role in connecting those of different ages, races, and socioeconomic statuses. They reflect the values and seek to meet the needs of the greater area. Public library design needs to serve its community members and enrich their lives. They can do this through:
enabling access to resources for information, learning, enterprise, and, recreation
collecting and preserving the social and documentary heritage for current and future generations
providing a gathering place and space to strengthen the community
For these reasons, library community engagement is essential in any public library renovation project.
What is Library Community Engagement?
Community engagement is the collaboration amongst stakeholders in order to increase knowledge and develop a mutual understanding and vision for a project. Stakeholder-inspired conversations are essential to the success and longevity of any project whether it’s a school, a library, a civic building, or even a religious institution.
Without a community’s help, an architect’s vision may not completely align with the needs of the stakeholders, or the client’s original needs may not be fully realized without the use of the greater community.
For public library design, library community engagement is the process of identifying a long-term solution to update and improve the library in a way that supports the culture and values of the community while designing a place for everyone to thrive and enrich community bonds; it is a way to align ourselves culturally and communicatively.
Library Design Through Our Library Community Visioning Process
Over the past 25 years, studioTECHNE has emphasized a collaborative, user-focused process to allow stakeholders to gain insight and build community consensus for their public library design and renovation project. Our public library renovation process helps everyone involved find a shared vision, develop a common voice, and gain actionable insight.
Our community visioning process is an immersive grouping of collaboration sessions, workshops, and forums. We seek to understand your motivators and pain points. We also want to consider the environmental factors that may be inhibiting your space or the current facility to ensure that we are creating a sustainable space for your community.
As we all know, a library serves a greater purpose than holding books - it supports the young and the old, the rich and the poor, and acts as a resource for the community to build a bridge of understanding and knowledge. Good public library design needs to stand the test of time.
Using Library Community Engagement to Help Heights Knowledge & Innovation Center
The Heights Knowledge and Innovation Center (located in Cleveland Heights, OH), is part of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights library system. Their vision is to “be a progressive and adaptive center of the community, connecting people to each other, to their neighborhoods, and to the world”. In order to fulfill their stakeholder’s needs and the environment’s needs, we needed to hold a series of public library community engagement exercises.
Through doing so, we were able to develop a space that would not only serve the needs of the community but also stand the test of time. We outfitted the Center with appropriate technology that supports content creation and business start-ups. Additionally, we developed spaces that built a knowledge community where individual work is supoprted by collaborative “water cooler” spaces.
Our Dream for the Future of Public Library Design
Our dream for the future of public library renovations and design is to create more dynamic, flexible spaces that are human-centered and purpose-driven. Community engagement is an essential driver of the library planning and design process.
