All Sessions

The role of the library to serve as cultural hub continues to transform and expand the functional relationships of physical + virtual spaces. Increasingly, access to the library anywhere, anytime, on a computer or a mobile device is a dynamic event, requiring a vibrant space. The rise of the mixed use library generates a new set of considerations for programming, planning and operations.

How do you apply planning metrics for library space? What metrics work for long and short term planning? What areas need to change in response to these new models? How should libraries adapt their facilities to address considerations of identity, integration, and territory?

This program will consist of a moderated panel / discussion with 4 emerging library professionals: 2 public and 2 academic. This will be followed by a summary of planning principles. Participants are invited to submit, in advance or at the session, library facility projects under consideration by their communities/ institutions so that a comprehensive list of hybrids can be captured for use in future exploration of this topic.

By incorporating new and more diverse collaborations and programs, libraries are blurring boundaries between information, culture and daily life. “Fusion” library facilities, functioning as community and academic hubs, have demanded new planning parameters to address identity, integration, and territory. This panel discussion of academic and public libraries will illustrate planning strategies and the operational considerations that shaped them. Following the panel, Sandbox sessions will provide opportunities for in‐depth discussions with Fusion Library representatives.

Uncertain environments call for experimentation. Learn how to develop a framework that leverages library resources in a new way. Address the conditions to attract new customers and resources. Archimedes moved a rock with a small stone. So can you.

Obviously, not all budgets are in decline. But it can be catastrophic if you don’t know the functional service capacities for your library. Researchers say that what people think of as intuition is, at its heart highly developed pattern recognition. This program will help new leaders understand patterns - putting intelligent minds to leverage change.

LEED is an international standard that addresses the sustainability of the built environment in which we operate. Learn about the basic parts of the standard, how it might apply to your library, and why it is essential for all libraries to consider. Learn about simple and complex changes that will support sustainability efforts at your library, regardless of type

A case study of the partnership between the Queens Library and the Exploratorium. How to bring children and science together in a fun and hand-on environment.

This program will review how public librarians have changed children’s library spaces. Increasingly they are no longer children’s book collections and children’s story hours, and instead have become destinations for children and their caregivers for discovery, play and learning. Three nationally known experts on these transformations will describe how to create discovery and learning spaces in libraries and how to outfit them. Time will be provided for questions and answers.

This program lays the groundwork for library planning standards through unique exercises that include group activities related to library standards, measurements, funding and advocacy. Participants are offered the opportunity to experience the initial steps of planning and are given the chance to research library planning standards that can make or break a project. This program is for academic librarians, educators, K-12 school librarians, special and public librarians.

As the concept of library as “community living room” or “learning commons” has firmly taken hold, the definition of Library has expanded in the public’s mind. Library buildings are increasingly housing many amenities that on the surface appear unrelated to traditional libraries. Join us in a discussion about these spaces, why they are intrinsically related to library missions today, and how libraries are incorporating them into their facilities.

This program focuses on the evolving concept of the "Learning Commons." After an introduction of the examples and best practices of a Learning Commons, we will engage in a series of group exercises to plan, design and evaluate a Learning Commons for a library of your choice. Workshop attendees will develop understanding of the facility development process. This program is for public librarians, educators, K-12 school librarians, special and academic librarians.

A panel of architects, librarians and consultants will provide an overview of new and exciting ideas in planning public and academic library facilities.

Topics will include the rethinking of spaces for services, new building design and other “must have” items to keep your library up-to-date.

Each panelist will provide a brief presentation with slides. The entire panel will then field questions as a team from the audience.

This panel takes sustainability to a new level of understanding. Whether you have a building project or not, sustainable thinking fosters partnerships, improves social equity and economic vitality, enhances environmental quality, increases revenue and conveys value.

Panelists present the inside scoop on how to design with nature, develop a platform for embedding an eco-­ethic deep into operations, explain the tools America’s libraries need to pursue a sustainable future in uncertain times.

Panelists with deep experience in library planning, design and administration, along with representatives of the information collection, dissemination and publishing industry, will explore the impact of technology and electronic content delivery on the library's physical and administrative future. Different points-of-view will be explored so that attendees can understand the shifts needed in library planning and what impact they may have on their respective libraries.