Innovative Library Spaces

The newness of our library building and the abundance of study space it offers are some of the many benefits law students at Cleveland-Marshall have the opportunity to take advantage of on a daily basis. During exam time the importance of the library to law students is especially apparent because library usage increases. Yet the library is not only important at the end of the semester, but throughout the school year. Students spend a great deal of their time in the library’s space during their three years.  Because of this it is critical that library spaces are functional, yet also pleasant places to be. Happy people are just simply more productive, so library spaces should aim to promote happiness.

Recently I came across two very interesting new libraries, one in Belgium and the other in South Korea, that focus on making library experiences enjoyable. The Belgian library, known as the Bookyard, is unique because of its placement. The entirety of the library is located outside in the city of Ghent next to a vineyard. If a patron using this library needs a break from reading, plenty of grassy areas to sit and relax are at his or her disposal. Click here for pictures.

The second of these two libraries is the Panorama House, which was designed by Moon Hoon and is located in Chungcheongbuk-do. Its main feature that promotes patron happiness is a slide. Instead of getting up to take a walk to help break the monotony of studying, in the Panorama House students could take a ride down this slide. To see photos of this unusual library, click here.

While the Cleveland-Marshall Law Library may not give students the chance to take a nap in a vineyard or momentarily relapse into childhood by taking a ride down a slide, it has many other features that are more relevant to the daily needs of students. It is also adapting to better meet those needs, as can be seen from the law incubator project. This project makes us an innovative library in our own right, just like the Bookyard and the Panorama House. In addition to the law library’s physical features, the students and staff that use and run the library make it a great place to be.  A wooden slide can’t beat great people.