Rethink space and collections: best practices from IFLA Satellite Conference "Space and collections earning their keep: transformation, technologies and re-tooling" (Paris, August 13th-14th, 2014)

Abstract

The article is an analytical report of the IFLA satellite conference “Space and collections earning their keep: transformation, technologies and re-tooling” organized in Paris by the IFLA Acquisition and Collection Development Section and by the Library Buildings and Equipement Section.
During the conference, twenty-two speakers from twelve different countries presented the best practices in restoration/reorganization of existing libraries and in designing new library buildings. All the projects showed a common goal: reorganizing the library space according to the transformation of library collections as well as to the users’ needs, and enhancing the social function of the library both as a place of individual and group study, and as a meeting and entertainment space. In order to do this, it seems necessary to give up the notion of a permanent and unchanging space and to embrace the idea of a flexible, pleasant and multifunctional space.