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Provides the sequential history of Kalamazoo Public Library’s $18,700,000 building project. How the library strengthened its relationship with its community through the building project is the most important message. Information about the project’s inception, how decisions were made, and the tax levy are included. The establishment of a building committee and the nuances involved with fund development for art are addressed.

This study aims to investigate how the local residents viewed a new public library project in Macao through the analysis of newspaper articles published in 2014–2019 and how these views have changed the decision-makers in selecting a different site for the new library.

Content analysis was used to analyze public views. 569 newspaper articles on the new library project published in local major newspapers from January 2014 to August 2019 were coded and analyzed. Percentage agreement for the two coders and Cohen's Kappa were used to calculate the inter-rater reliability.

The top 5 factors discussed in the newspaper articles were the general decision-making process (38.65%), location (18.20%), selection of the Old Court Building as the new library site (15.07%), budget (13.5%) and new library services (6.85%). The local residents tended to raise questions on the high cost, the appropriateness of the selected library site, the preservation of the local heritage buildings, and the role that the government should play in this project.

This study only collected and analyzed the data from the articles published in the major newspapers in Macao. Other types of media from sources such as Facebook were not included in this study. Articles containing similar information but from different newspapers were all counted as individual entries for data collection. The voices/options were not divided by groups. For further analysis, the articles could be separated by voices from politicians, librarians and other special interest groups. The chosen categories in this study were based on Voyant Tools and the authors' interpretation/focus of the research question. The categories could be subdivided for further study. For example, the overall support of the project could be broken into full support, support with some minor reservations, support with major reservations, etc. And some articles currently in the neutral category with some degrees of support might fit into one of the above new sub-categories.

The case carries new references for any communities embarking on similar projects.

The purpose of the paper is to show that the Open University library building project was particularly successful for its inclusion of library staff. This was mainly due to the emphasis on a partnering ethos with integrated workshops. The paper identifies the value of such approaches in all building projects and highlights additional factors that enabled a full contribution from the Library.

The Open University project is used as a case study of user involvement in a building project.

The paper finds that making partnering work is dependent on putting in place a structured approach that incorporates all the elements included in the definition: delivering better value for partners; reducing duplication and waste of resources; identifying and evaluating progress towards mutual objectives; developing an issue resolution process; and measuring through the use of performance indicators.

This is the only example of a partnering project used for a library building known to the author. Promoting the advantages of partnering and integrated teamworking is of value to the construction industry as well as to clients (Estates departments) and building users (library staff and customers).

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of green building technologies and practices and illustrate how public libraries can use them as tools to teach their communities about sustainability and foster behavior change.

Through literature searches, case studies analysis, and individual phone and e‐mail interviews, the author identified ways that public libraries can use their buildings to demonstrate green technologies and practices and show their patrons how to apply them at home, at work, and in the community.

Education is a component of LEED certification. Many LEED certified libraries publicize a list of the green technologies used in their building projects. Some sponsor programs related to the green building and include permanent displays in the library to explain how the technology works. The Fayetteville Public Library went beyond these basic techniques to not only improve the sustainability of their operations but also become a community test bed for a renewable energy project.

This paper sheds light on how building projects can be used not only to educate the public about green technologies and practices, but also inspire others to begin using similar techniques at home, at work, and in the community.

The paper seeks to describe the processes involved in an academic library building project, from the choice of site and appointment of the architects to the move itself. The focus is on finding solutions to problems caused by limited space, fixed deadlines and innovative design, and ensuring that the Library needs are fully understood throughout a complex project involving other interest groups over a number of years.

The experience of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library is used as a case study to describe various issues around library design, working with architects and project managers, and managing a library move. Reference is made to the impact of the 7 July bombings in London on library staff.

The case study outlines the importance of Library involvement in every aspect of the design, the impact of decisions about internal layout on library capacity, the adaptability of library staff to unusual and difficult working conditions, the possibility of providing a limited service in an incomplete building, the importance of balancing aesthetic and functional considerations in the final design, and the impact of those design decisions on the long‐term functioning and use of the Library.

The paper describes most of the processes and problems likely to be encountered in a major library building project and will be useful to any library setting out on such a project.

The aim of this chapter is to help library administrators understand the concept of Service Design, and to maintain that any consideration of the future of library spaces should begin with a service design focused approach.

The chapter is a combination of general review, literature review, case study, and conceptual paper. It focuses on describing the basics of the concept, highlighting essential resources for further understanding, highlighting service design specifically applied in libraries, and providing one case study of an academic library undergoing a master planning project utilizing the lens of Service Design. The chapter will conclude by emphasizing the importance of attaining an appropriate understanding and buy-in for the Service Design process by library administrators and staff in order for its effective implementation.

Practical implications to employing Service Design to library spaces are endless, and span that gamut from making smart decisions based on user input and evidence, to creating spaces and services that are relevant to library users. Employing a Service Design approach to library building projects helps administrators position themselves to advocate for needed technology and funding in the highly competitive resource arena. The ideas gleaned from this chapter can be applied in any library: academic, public, special, or school. The results will be different, because every library has a unique group of users, but the processes employed are the same.

Library literature related to Service Design is slim but slowly emerging. This chapter fills a gap in literature geared specifically to administrators as well as building design and redesign projects.

Estimating the cost of public library building projects can be difficult, but there are helpful resources available to assist in creating a projected budget for such a project. In addition to books and the annual Library Journal issue devoted to library architecture, computer software is now available to assist in developing projected building costs. While accurate cost projections have always been important, ever increasing building costs and changing sources of funding over the past ten years have made it all the more pertinent to estimate as accurately as possible from the start of such a venture.

An early estimate of the potential costs of building a new library is an essential part of the construction planning process. Historical data detailing construction costs for buildings are widely available, but effective use of these data requires an understanding of the difference between “project cost” and “building costs”. Knowledge of the techniques employed to turn generic cost information into data for a specific project is equally important. This article offers some basic information in square foot estimating and will help planners increase the accuracy of pre‐design estimates of project costs.

Active participation in the Lied Library construction management proved to be an interesting challenge as well as a learning experience for library personnel. Problems of architectural design flaws, change‐orders, and other issues were discussed during the project management weekly meetings in which the library was represented. In order to make the library technologically adaptable and extend the life of the building, different types of infrastructure were put into place, including an automated storage and retrieval system. Unanticipated problems caused construction delays, and the library administration had to remain flexible while preparing for the move into the building.

Constructing academic library learning spaces involves ad hoc groups of agents often with fuzzy inter-relationships. Librarians and their user communities are initially hailed within these groups as prime-movers in realizing projects. Librarians bring to the table contagious ideas generated from their own profession in the hope of securing appropriate funding and planning pre-requisites. All other agents, be they internal community representatives or external architects, assist them in making sense of each other’s standpoints to co-create dynamic learning spaces in “commons consent”. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using the community culture in The Chinese University of Hong Kong as existed in 2012 as a case study, this paper examines the reality of this process in terms of a new library for learning, teaching and research.

Can librarians hold sway over the priorities of other individual agents, particularly architects, to gain consent to build their initial concept of the commons which they are vigorously promoting as professionally valid and educationally potent? In the co-creation of a building, individual preferences and organizational power structures in ad hoc groups drawn from the university’s distinct cultural environment fuel compromise and even tension around the librarians’ and architects’ original visions.

Many other case studies of library building learning commons projects would be useful to add to these findings in sensemaking, co-creation and community cultures.

Assists library managers in their management of large buildings projects.

An original case study of a major Asian academic library learning commons project which involves sensemaking, co-creation and community cultures ideas imported from construction science.