Week 3 Readings

"The Quite Plug Crisis"

Kelley’s article discusses the need for a very simple addition to libraries – more outlets.  Although librarians believe users need more advanced technological tools to access information, installing more outlets in libraries could partially satiate their desire for more information and freer access to it. “The Quiet Plug” also brought up two interesting points. First, it addressed librarians’ fear that libraries will become irrelevant. Quoting librarian Maria Redburn, Kelley writes, “‘People can't afford Internet service at home anymore, they can't afford a print cartridge, so there's a causal relationship between the economy and the growth of people using the library’” (Kelley 25). Instead of worrying so much about being on the cutting edge of technology, librarians should be concerned with meeting users’ basic information needs. In an economy where basic technological needs can no longer be taken for granted, people will look to libraries as their main source of internet access and other electronic services.

Surprisingly, an addition as simple as an outlet is also expensive. Kelley raises this concern in his article as well. He mentions several solutions to this problem such as purchasing tables and chairs equipped with their own outlets, but even these might be too expensive for some libraries. Could one short term solution to a shortage of outlets be installing or making power strips available? Though not a glamorous solution, it could be an option for smaller libraries, or libraries with very tight budgets.

"Shifting Spaces" and "A Whole Systems Approach"

Aldrich’s, and Kuzyk’ and Fialkoff’s articles address issues in library design on a macro level. Both discuss the emergence of a new approach to building design and construction called Integrated Building Design, or IBD. This method requires building owners, architects, construction managers, and any other key project members to collaborate from day one of a building project and see the whole project through to completion together. Such an approach finds and addresses design and construction issues earlier on in the building process making them more affordable to fix and yielding a better end result. While IBD is heralded as innovative and revolutionary in the United States, it is simply a long needed manifestation of common sense. Why wouldn’t the key members of a building project coordinate their efforts from the start? Aldrich’s article partially answers this by explaining that building laws and codes in the United States make collaborative contracting difficult; however it seems that most construction and design issues could be avoided if architects and construction managers made it common practice to work together.