Volume 29, Issue 1 (4-2023)
Research on Information Science and Public Libraries 2023, 29(1): 34-60 |
Back to browse issues page
Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Alinejad Majidi S, Ghobadi M. Rethinking the architecture of public library spaces in order to redefine a new paradigm. Research on Information Science and Public Libraries 2023; 29 (1) :34-60
URL: http://publij.ir/article-1-2400-en.html
URL: http://publij.ir/article-1-2400-en.html
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Shahrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahroud, Iran , s.alinejad@iau-shahrood.ac.ir
Abstract: (1492 Views)
Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to briefly review the current status of the required spaces for the public libraries in Iran and identify and redefine the architectural needs of these spaces to achieve a new pattern for contemporary libraries.
Method: The study approach is a qualitative study based on the grounded theory method. The data were collected by applying library and field methods, using an analytical review, interviews with users, librarians of four selected libraries, researchers, architecture and their users. By analyzing the interview and data, codes were identified and named. In the axial coding stage, the primary categories and phenomena, including “demographic composition of the audiences”, “form of resources, facilities, and facilities”, “quality of the collection and resources”, “conditions of the library to utilize the services”, “quality of services and facilities, and programs to achieve the establishment of social and spatial justice”, “level of social interactions by knowing the cultural context of the target society”, “relationship with sustainable development”, and “library space including four components of necessary standards, functional planning, customization and configuration, and physical planning” were identified. In the selective coding, given the study objectives, three categories of “standardization”, “socio-cultural dimension” and “physical-environmental model” were selected.
Findings: Public libraries have changed rapidly due to technological developments and the communication revolution, and have overshadowed the service and mission, planning and functional design, physical, and even the perceptual and aesthetic aspects of libraries. Convincing and diverse perspectives have been presented on public libraries and their future, their goals, services, and space in the 21st century. They range from doubting their functional existence owing to the nature of new technologies and communications, to their becoming significant due to the nature of preserving the documents of human civilization and the interaction make possibe in society (unlike the new communication technologies that insist on isolation). The diversity of these views emphasizes that it is not possible to present a single form for design, but there is a possibility of some kind of design interaction. The analysis of the libraries under study showed that the architecture of the libraries makes certain functional/behavioral models possible. One of them is the “collection-oriented” model, which aims at emphasizing the traditional role of the library as a place for providing resources. The other is an “interaction-oriented” model, which stresses the socio-cultural role of the public library as a venue for interaction that emphasizes, on the one hand, the preservation, publication and development of knowledge and information, and on the other hand, the connection with society and the improvement of the level of cultural and social interactions.
Originality/value: The findings of this study redefine the role of public libraries relying on the relevant components of the library architecture to create and develop a suitable platform for the social capital from this space. By changing the library strategies from the complex-oriented pattern to the interaction-oriented model, and redefinition of the spaces, in addition to preserving, publishing, and presenting various sources of knowledge, contemporary libraries should be the custodians and publishers of collective memory and participate in the relations between people and civil institutions. A good architectural design of library spaces should reflect their intentions and mission in our times. More importantly, the designed space should enable achievement of development goals.
Method: The study approach is a qualitative study based on the grounded theory method. The data were collected by applying library and field methods, using an analytical review, interviews with users, librarians of four selected libraries, researchers, architecture and their users. By analyzing the interview and data, codes were identified and named. In the axial coding stage, the primary categories and phenomena, including “demographic composition of the audiences”, “form of resources, facilities, and facilities”, “quality of the collection and resources”, “conditions of the library to utilize the services”, “quality of services and facilities, and programs to achieve the establishment of social and spatial justice”, “level of social interactions by knowing the cultural context of the target society”, “relationship with sustainable development”, and “library space including four components of necessary standards, functional planning, customization and configuration, and physical planning” were identified. In the selective coding, given the study objectives, three categories of “standardization”, “socio-cultural dimension” and “physical-environmental model” were selected.
Findings: Public libraries have changed rapidly due to technological developments and the communication revolution, and have overshadowed the service and mission, planning and functional design, physical, and even the perceptual and aesthetic aspects of libraries. Convincing and diverse perspectives have been presented on public libraries and their future, their goals, services, and space in the 21st century. They range from doubting their functional existence owing to the nature of new technologies and communications, to their becoming significant due to the nature of preserving the documents of human civilization and the interaction make possibe in society (unlike the new communication technologies that insist on isolation). The diversity of these views emphasizes that it is not possible to present a single form for design, but there is a possibility of some kind of design interaction. The analysis of the libraries under study showed that the architecture of the libraries makes certain functional/behavioral models possible. One of them is the “collection-oriented” model, which aims at emphasizing the traditional role of the library as a place for providing resources. The other is an “interaction-oriented” model, which stresses the socio-cultural role of the public library as a venue for interaction that emphasizes, on the one hand, the preservation, publication and development of knowledge and information, and on the other hand, the connection with society and the improvement of the level of cultural and social interactions.
Originality/value: The findings of this study redefine the role of public libraries relying on the relevant components of the library architecture to create and develop a suitable platform for the social capital from this space. By changing the library strategies from the complex-oriented pattern to the interaction-oriented model, and redefinition of the spaces, in addition to preserving, publishing, and presenting various sources of knowledge, contemporary libraries should be the custodians and publishers of collective memory and participate in the relations between people and civil institutions. A good architectural design of library spaces should reflect their intentions and mission in our times. More importantly, the designed space should enable achievement of development goals.
Type of Study: qualitative |
Subject:
Library Standards
Received: 2022/08/18 | Accepted: 2022/11/7 | Published: 2023/04/30
Received: 2022/08/18 | Accepted: 2022/11/7 | Published: 2023/04/30
References
1. ابنالندیم، محمدبن اسحاق (1381). الفهرست (محمدرضا تجدد، ترجمه و تحقیق). تهران: انتشارات اساطیر.
2. حیدری، شاهین (1395). درآمدی بر روش تحقیق در معماری: با نگرشی تحلیلی بر پایان نامهنویسی معماری. تهران: نشر فکرنو.
3. دانشور، رضا؛ و دیبا، کامران (1399). باغی میان دو خیابان: چهار هزار و یک روز از زندگی کامران دیبا در گفتوگو با رضا دانشور. تهران: نشر بنگاه.
4. سلطانی، پرنیان (1398، 23 آبان). ردای جدید برای کتابخانۀ قدیم. روزنامۀ همشهری. https://b2n.ir/w49809
5. نهاد کتابخانههای عمومی کشور (1400). استاندارد تخصیص فضاهای کتابخانه عمومی. تهران: کتاب نشر.
6. http://nppl.ir/wp-content/uploads/16-1400-Space.pdf
7. مختاری معمار، حسین (1373). معماری ساختمان کتابخانه (ترجمه). تحقیقات اطلاعرسانی و کتابخانههای عمومی. ۴(1-2): ۱۰۱-۱۰۴.
8. مردمی، کریم؛ و سلیمانپور، احسان (1395). نقد معماری بنای کتابخانۀ مرکزی و مرکز اطلاعرسانی شهرداری اصفهان. تحقیقات اطلاعرسانی و کتابخانههای عمومی، ۲۲(۳)، ۳۵۵-۳۷۷.
Chained Books: Library Security History. https://ricketiki.com/chained-books/
9. Cohen et al. (2014). The library of the future: junction of knowledge, contact and culture. SIOB.
10. Dewe, M. (2006). Planning public library buildings: concepts and issues for the librarian. Ashgate, Hampshire. Ashgate Publishing Limited. https://3lib.net/book/1006222/fdfc1b
11. Frischer, B. (2005). The Ultimate Internet Café: Reflections of a Practicing Digital Humanist about Designing a Future for the Research Library in the Digital Age. IN Geoffrey T. Freeman. (2005). Library as Place: Rethinking Roles, Rethinking Space, Washington, DC, Council on Library and Information Resources. https://www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/pub129.pdf
12. Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival (3rd ed). NewYork, NY: McGraw-Hill. http://semnanlibrary.blogfa.com
13. Jochumsen, H., Hvenegaard, R. C.& Hansen, D. S (2012). The four spaces, a new model for the public library. New Library World, 113 (11/12), 586-597. [DOI:10.1108/03074801211282948]
14. Miksa, F. L. (1974). Charles Ammi Cutter: Nineteenth-Century Systematizer of Libraries [Doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago]. https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~miksa/dissertation.html
15. Niegaard, H. (2008). 2. Reinventing the physical library: Libraries in A new context. In IFLA Library Building Guidelines: Developments & Reflections (pp. 30-46). KG Saur.
16. Skolverket. (2018). Curriculum for the preschool Lpfö 18. Stockholm, Sweden: The Swedish National Agency for Education. http//www.skolverket.se
17. Woodford, S. (2016). Preconception to participation: young people's experience of public library architecture [Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff University]. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/90682/
18. Zickuhr, K., Rainie, L.& Purcell, K. (2013). Library Services in the Digital Age. Part 5: The present and future of libraries. http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/01/22/part-5-the-present-and-future-of-libraries
Send email to the article author
| Rights and permissions | |
 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
