[Publib] Architecture AL Issue

[ESHEARY at aol.com]

Amen to this Mr. Casey.  I have been involved in at least a  dozen building 
projects in my time and I always thought the purpose was to  deliver a 
comfortable and functional building that met people's needs at a  reasonable 
cost to the taxpayer.  
 
Ed Sheary, Buncombe County NC Public Libraries
 
n a message dated 5/7/2009 11:59:22 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jcasey at olpl.org writes:

When I  looked through the "Design and Construction Showcase" issue of AL 
my reaction  is one of amazement mingled with outrage.  Is the objective of  
multi-million dollar expenditure of tax dollars on Library construction to  
achieve "architectural statements" with immensely high ceilings, huge glass  
walls, breathtaking vistas that "wow" the visitor, but are totally 
impractical  to heat, cool, clean, illuminate, and capture the occasional bird that 
may get  in.  I have always proceeded from the notion that "form should 
follow  function" and not the other way around when it comes to construction 
planning.  When architects are allowed to design this or that palace without 
reference to  the stated service objectives of a practical, functioning 
library, the results  are anything but flattering to our profession.  You might 
have huge  expanses of overhead space that look fantastic in LJ or AL, but not 
enough  floor space to accommodate the public or the collections.  Are 
patrons  able to sit in a comfortable space near windows "bringing the book to 
the  light" or does the natural light flood the interior with glare and heat 
at  given times of the day?

For me, the best photos of any service area are  those depicting spaces 
filled with patrons. 

James B. Casey --- My own  views
Director of Oak Lawn Public Library
ALA Council  Member



-----Original Message-----
From:  publib-bounces at webjunction.org 
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On  Behalf Of Michael D. Logusz
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 10:20 AM
To:  publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] RE: Requesting photos of  children's areas

RE: Requesting photos of children's  areas

American Libraries had a nice 58 page digital supplement back in  April 
that was a photo-filled ‘Design and Construction Showcase’. If you save  your 
AL emails it was sent April 10th. If not, try clicking:  
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/5a2490e9#/5a2490e9/1. I’m not sure if you  have to be an AL 
subscriber for it to work, but you can Google it and it comes  up: this is 
the Spring 2009 supplement (not the Winter one). Anyway, it has  photos of 
over 80 recent library construction projects, including some  Children’s 
Areas.

Hope this helps,
Mike Logusz


au6855 at  wayne.edu
mlogusz at  Comcast.net


_______________________________________________
Publib  mailing  list
Publib at webjunction.org
http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib




**************Big savings on Dell’s most popular laptops. Now starting at 
$449! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222382499x1201454962/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B214663472%3B36502367%3Bg)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20090507/2816c8ed/attachment.htm