Active sitting : give the users a more mobile library experience

• In 2015, the team responsible for the development of the library premises was asked to make a draft of what we saw as the most important areas to focus on if we were given the chance to refurbish them.To understand the needs it is important to give a short background to the library and the development of Umeå University. When the University was founded in 1965 it had only 2000 students, and when the University Library opened in December 1968 it was built to support a University with 8000 students. Over the years there have been some extensions built to the library but it is has not been enough to keep up with the growing collection and the fact that the university today has about 34000 students and 2100 faculty staff. One problem with the extensions and the small-scale renovations of the library that have been conducted over the years, is that they have left us with a patchwork of different premises and so it is not always clear how the floorplan should be organized to make the library easy to navigate. The amount of students has of course also had an impact on the Library space. The intense usage from 4000-5000 visits/day is hard on the furniture as well as on the floor and wall surfaces in the library.196It is not only the increased use that has had an impact, but also the change in how the physical library is used. Over the years there has been a shift from the researchers’ library into the students’ library. And with a more collaborative approach to learning with a lot of group study, the requirements of the study environment are very different to the requirements of fifty years ago.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Studies (hsv//eng)

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