Is Your Library Accessible? | Library by Design
Providing equal access to your historic building can spur other crucial updates. Sep 27, 2011| In this Article |
| Further Reading |
“Sure we’re accessible, there’s a handicapped sign on the boiler room door out back.” Does this sound like your library’s accessibility solution?
Making your public library accessible to the handicapped can be complicated and expensive, and it may even reduce your usable space, but getting it done is more important than ever, and it can improve the function of your library for everyone.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), there are nearly 17,000 public libraries in the United States. In its most recent (2010) Public Library Survey, the Institute of Museum and Library Services reports visits to public libraries totaled 1.5 billion, or 5.1 library visits per capita. These numbers are continuing to rise, and the recession has spurred demand even further. Given these trends, the aging of America’s population, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, providing equal access to all is the right thing to do—and soon.
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UPDATED AND ACCESSIBLE The original Haston Free Public Library established the library's primacy with its grand design, but over 100 years of use and almost no renovation in the meantime meant it was ready for more room. Photo by J. Stewart Roberts. Postcard courtesy of North Brookfield Historical Society |
Where to begin?
The town of North Brookfield, MA, is home to the beautiful Haston Free Public Library, which was donated to the town by Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Haston in 1894. Since then, no substantial renovation work had been done until a recent remodel and restoration project was completed in 2007.
The Haston library is an elegant, Richardsonian structure on a prominent site in the center of North Brookfield. The building encompasses two stories, with a full basement, and is clad in granite with a red slate roof. The site slopes steeply from front to back so that the front entrance is on the main level, while the basement exits at grade at the rear. Prior to the renovation, only one room was accessible in the basement at the rear of the building, but the floor itself wasn’t safe to walk on owing to serious rot that disconnected it from the stone foundation. The children’s department, housed in a nearby room on the basement level, could only be reached via a narrow stair from the main level. The main floor of the library was entered only via the original stone steps to the front door, and the upper floor was closed to the public. Where to begin?
Providing access that works requires three things: money to make the changes, space to accommodate the clearances required, and careful planning, which will also help reduce the money and space needed.
An effective access project can also help maintain, and in some cases improve, library circulation, security, and control. A successful plan grows from understanding the access upgrades required and how best to incorporate access effectively into your library’s day-to-day operation.
Public libraries have very specific workflow and control needs, which are both integral to their daily operation and unique to these institutions. Maintaining security and command in this type of environment can be very challenging and has traditionally been accomplished through a combination of controlled access, monitored circulation points, and visual supervision. Accessibility upgrades should reinforce these control systems, not short-circuit them.
This, then, was the plan for the Haston Library: make every existing square foot count and provide additional space for collections, computers, and places to work and read. Maintain access for all, to all three levels, and do so in a safe and secure manner so that existing staff could maintain the library without a reduction of service.
And get the kids out of the basement.
Challenges and solutions
The challenges in North Brookfield were not unlike those in many historic libraries. In fact, they read like a top ten list of small-town, historic library concerns: small site; little room for expansion; beautiful, historic exterior and interior finishes; no room for new stairs or an elevator; leaking basement and roof; antiquated heating, plumbing, and electrical systems; and only minor renovations over the past 100 years.
The solutions lie in focusing on library service to create a plan that not only provides access for the disabled but improves access for all, in an efficient, easy-to-supervise manner. In too many cases, libraries install accessibility upgrades as stopgap measures that seldom stand the test of time, often do not fully comply with access codes, and short-circuit security and control systems. After all, who is really watching your boiler room door?
Identify barriers
Consider access strategies that are durable, maintainable, and integrated into the existing fabric and circulation of your building. Changes that accommodate both the handicapped and able-bodied reduce cost and consolidate supervision requirements and go a long way toward providing universal access.
The ADA, and many building codes, requires total access to all spaces, equipment, and materials in your building. Regulations extend from the size of doors to the slope of sidewalks, from the type of flooring to the furniture selected. Careful planning and decision-making is required to ensure that all patrons and staff can be served with little or no repetition in services.
Start with a barriers survey of your building and grounds. This will help identify current barriers to access and determine the severity of the access issues. The ADA has a checklist (see Further Reading) that can help you identify concerns and generate your survey. Historic libraries may have preservation restrictions, or other regulations imposed by a local historic commission, that limit options. Indeed, any library building can have important features that could be marred by access improvements such as a ramp or lift.
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MORE ACCESS FOR ALL A much-needed update to the 1894 Haston Free Public Library created a more functional space for staff and patrons as well as better access on every level. The renovation and addition called for the original entrance to be closed in exchange for a ramped door, a single elongated service desk that allows for a seamless flow of activity and long sight lines, and more. Photos by J. Stewart Roberts. Floor plan and drawing by Philip O'Brien |
Winning solution for all users
The best design solutions for identified access barriers address each of your project parameters in some way. It may not be possible to develop the “perfect solution” for every problem. The trick is identifying what works best for your library, your patrons, and your budget. This may mean reviewing a variety of solutions early on, vetting those that don’t fit, taking the best from the remaining ideas, and combining and refining them until they do work for you.
At the Haston library, the winning remedy included a small addition off the two-story high-stack wing. This provided the needed square footage to accommodate accessible stairs, an elevator, toilets, and a new accessible main entrance. The rotted basement floors were replaced, and the entire basement was renovated and waterproofed and now houses the reference, nonfiction, and local history collections, as well as meeting spaces. A new “bridge” was constructed across the two-story stack wing to connect the floors of the upper level, resulting in a new, bright, and greatly expanded children’s department.
Whether making your building accessible calls for simple upgrades to your existing entrance and toilets or a complete renovation and addition, keeping the focus on library service is critical. Tour other libraries in your area to see what they’ve done, and note what works and what doesn’t work for your facility.
Access solutions that treat all patrons the same, able- bodied or not, are more likely to simplify workflow in and around your building; improve visibility, control, and security; and open up more space for library use by eliminating duplicate services.
Look to place your circulation or information desk in a commanding location, with routes for patrons nearby. Creating visual control over internal circulation patterns and access points used by all patrons consolidates tasks for staff, giving them more time for service. In the case of the Haston library, a modest addition effectively tripled the usable square footage inside the building simply by making spaces accessible.
A well-planned accessibility project, when executed with care, can reinvigorate your older or historic building and may even increase circulation. Just as important, it heralds your mission as a public service organization—and your boiler room door can stay closed.
| Author Information |
| Philip O'Brien (pobrien@johnson-roberts.com), a Principal with Johnson Roberts Associates Inc. in Somerville, MA, has been designing additions and renovations to public libraries and other municipal buildings for 25 years |
ADA Accessibility Guidelines Checklist for Buildings and Facilities
www.access-board.gov/adaag/checklist/a16.html
ADA Checklist for Libraries
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“Library Accessibility–What You Need To Know” (The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies)
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Jester, Thomas C. & Sharon C. Park, AIA.
Making Historic Properties Accessible. (Preservation Briefs, Technical Preservation Services, National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1993)
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2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design
www.ada.gov/2010ADAstandards_index.htm
This article originally appeared in print in the Library by Design supplement published by LJ on Sep. 15, 2011. Read on for more Library by Design articles and ongoing architecture coverage from LJ.
