Encoding Space: Shaping Learning Environments That Unlock Human Potential

ALA Member
$55.80
Price
$62.00
Item Number
978-0-8389-8825-1
Published
2016
Publisher
ACRL
Pages
176
Width
9"
Height
7"
Format
Softcover
AP Categories
P

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  • Description
  • Table of Contents
  • About the authors
  • Reviews

Can we create library environments that inspire people to be more creative, collaborative, reflective, or engaged? That is the driving question of this imaginative book. Brian Mathews (Virginia Tech Libraries) weaves elements together from architecture, psychology, retail, neuroscience, and many other disciplines in this narrative about the evolution of library buildings. Re-conceptualizing libraries as showrooms, studios, salons, and boutiques, some new directions are outlined for discussion about the future. The text encourages you and your team to look beyond the functional value of your facility, and to consider how libraries can also serve as an experimental landscape that helps foster well being and personal growth.

Featuring drawings and renderings from interior designer Leigh Ann Soistmann, Encoding Space is ideal for librarians and campus administrators looking to spark their creative thinking and push strategic conversations about the purpose, value, and future of library buildings.

PROLOGUE: What's the Building Trying to Tell Us?

THE GUIDING QUESTIONS

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE

Swayed By Our Surroundings
What Makes A Space A Place?
From Dichotomy To Ecology
Knowledge Spillovers
Purpose =  Elevate
Attachment
How Does This Space Make You Feel?
When A Chair Is More Than A Place To Sit
Space Imparts Action
Programmable Space


RETAIL (EXCHANGE)

 

Persuasive Spaces
The Most Important Thing
Vocabulary
Merchandising
Visual Cues
The Soul Of A Space
Audit Your Atmosphere
Color
A Point Of View
Nurturing The Scholarly Impulse
Is It What You Thought It Would Be?
Primed For Success
Store-Within-A-Store
Away From The Desk
Omni Channel
Curating Behaviors
Personalization
Responsive Space


DESIGN CONCEPTS

 

 

Knowledge Showrooms
Knowledge Studios
Knowledge Boutiques
Knowledge Salons


ENCODING ENVIRONMENTS

 

 

Individual Effects
Communal Effects
Empowerment
But Can We Encode?


CONCEPTUAL TRANSITIONS

 

 

Transition #1: From Third Place To Magnet Place
Transition #2: From Commons To Community
Elements of Community
Dwelling
Transition #3: From Transactions To Transformations
The Danger Of Being Service-Oriented
Transition #4: From User Centered To Learner Centered
Build It and They Will Come, So What?


COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS

 

 

Dynamic > Static
You Can't Study Just One Bee
Play
Instruments of Innovation
A Great Big Box Of Parts


WELL-BEING

 

 

Heart
Hope
Brain


RADICAL COLLABORATION: A Manifesto

About the Authors

 

Brian Mathews

Brian Mathews is the Assistant University Librarian for Outreach & Academic Services at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has previously served as the user experience librarian at the Georgia Institute of Technology and as a reference librarian at the George Washington University. Brian has published numerous journal articles and is an active speaker and panel member on a variety of library topics, particularly on increasing the awareness of library services to students. He is also an advocate for empathic design, and is currently exploring new ways of encouraging patrons to participate in scholarly, creative, cultural, and service-oriented endeavors. His blog is The Ubiquitous Librarian.

"Given the breadth of its research and the accessibility of its writing, Encoding Space should be required reading for librarians and library administrators."
— Portal: Libraries and the Academy

"[R]eading this book and understanding the basic concepts proposed is well worth consideration for any library and librarian as we move forward, deeper into the 21st century."
— Journal of Learning Spaces