Library Construction from a Staff Perspective

Citation

Hendry, J.D. (2002), "Library Construction from a Staff Perspective", Library Review, Vol. 51 No. 8, pp. 429-430. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2002.51.8.429.7

This is a happy book. For much of the 1990s the board and staff of the Williamsburg regional library were involved in two major building projects. New construction for the 35,000 square feet James City County library, and the renovation and extension of the Williamsburg library, increasing its size from 28,000 to 40,000 square feet. This work narrates the experiences of the library staff in what is inevitably a frustrating but ultimately a satisfying process. What comes through the text, however, is that for all the difficulties, there is a happiness that comes through of a good job well done. I am certainly of the belief that such library developments do wonders for staff and attitudes and morale and that if there were more such developments in Britain then it would raise both the profile and the self esteem of the UK public library profession.

A small item from the glossary may illustrate what I mean about morale, and with it, a sense of humour:

EXPLETIVE: Patterns of speech the personnel manual says not to use; sometimes necessary to translate your request to a contractor.

There are sections on:

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  Planning: including “building new and renovating old”; renovating old; and building new.

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  Building: patron and staff considerations; dealing with construction professionals; technology upgrades.

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  Living with the results: opening day events and the realities of your facilities.

There is also a series of interesting and informative appendices on these such as construction timetables; computer specs; fundraising materials and the one which I enjoyed best, “it costs how much?”

In essence, this book is about attitude. And a very positive attitude shines through. Whether you term it, “think positive” or “making virtue out of necessity” the attitude is good. Listen to the examples that I think convey the flavour not only of this book, but of the two projects it describes:

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  “Our theme was called Building Better Readers. The children enjoyed the programme, the library got wonderful publicity from local papers, and one construction manager will be fondly remembered by staff and children alike as Uncle Dunkle story teller extraordinaire.”

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  “When all the wires for computers and other equipment were brought down from the ceiling into the middle of the children’s library … staff adapted the wires into a beanstalk. In order to keep little hands away from the wires they enclosed them in cardboard tubes. Then the tubes were decorated to resemble a large beanstalk.”

This is a book I would like to present to every group of library staff who were about to go through a construction process. Both the process and the book would do them the world of good. And as for the UK I would hope there were so many projects that the book went rapidly out of print.