La Responsabilidad Internacional del Estado y las Circunstancias Agravantes Revisitadas

To ensure a thorough understanding of the operations and spaces now used, chronicle the activities either in photographs or on video and use close exami- nation of that record to evaluate the space, equipment, efficiency, and effective- ness of the process.

For example, the circulation service desk and workroom are a good place to start. Photograph the work surfaces from the front and back. Make certain that all cables and equipment are visible in overall and close-up views without staff or users in the picture. Additional photographs should illustrate both the staff and customer, with a typical large workload of outgoing and incoming materials. The photographs should clearly show the placement and size of all peripherals: computer scanner, sensitizer/desensitizer, control unit, central pro- cessing unit (CPU), receipt printer, and account printer; fax machine, tele- phone, and other equipment; telephone, cash register or cash drawer, and customer materials.

Measurements should be taken of each piece of equipment and notes made regarding power and wiring requirements. Additional photographs should illus- trate the placement and size of staff support materials, including books, binders, library cards, registration materials, date-due slips or receipts, branch identifiers or other forms, manuals, storage containers for floppy disks and CDs or DVDs, paper files; waste containers, calendar, stamps, pens and pencils, and so on. The entire area should be measured and the results posted on a wall so that everyone begins to feel comfortable in visualizing square footage.

How are incoming materials handled? How would they be best handled? In a circulation workroom or at the service desk? Several libraries use frictionless tables (conveyors) to help move materials from book returns to return stations. What is the proper angle for those conveyors that will permit the weight of a light book or a CD to move down the conveyor without holding up the process? If the conveyor leads from a book return to a work surface, how does the accessible height of the book return mesh with the slope of the conveyor and the height of the work surface? Is an automated feed required to keep mate- rials moving? How are materials stopped? How are receipts handled? How are items sorted or presorted? How many books or other materials will fit into the book return bin? What is the best size and cost of the return bins? (For in- stance, electronically adjustable bins can hold more books and reduce injuries, but they are expensive and require electrical outlets and more floor space than common depressible trucks.) What is the best way of handling those materials while checking them in? What can be done to speed the process and reduce physical strain? After the materials are checked in, what happens to them? What is the most efficient and safest way of getting them to the right branch or on the right shelves?

Similarly, if the library is considering new equipment or systems to circulate and secure library materials, visit another library using a new system, take pho- tographs of an installation of said equipment as it is being used, and ask for rec- ommendations as to how the system should be arranged or improved. What do the staff think are the best practices? Few manufacturers have literature or train- ing materials that fully illustrate every component placed at its ergonomic best, all cables, all associated support materials and equipment, and a thorough step- by-step description of best operation. Photograph a technician on a typical maintenance call so that it is clear how equipment must be accessed or moved. Evaluate the light quantity or quality that is required to make repairs or read LCD/LED displays or diagnostic devices. Note the length of cables and how they feed through furniture to connect equipment. Note the number of outlets and circuits that are necessary, as well as minimum or maximum distances be- tween equipment. Discuss every last nitty-gritty detail so that when you are ready to program and design specific spaces, each detail may be represented on a floor plan, and staff have a thorough understanding of what is involved.

Critically examine the workspaces and the work schedule of the staff. What type of spaces will permit staff to focus on the task at hand and to get

variety in the work process? How do employees handle problems? What items or equipment in the workspace permit problems to be handled most effec- tively? Where is storage for daily tasks? How are supplies organized and moni- tored? Is the purchasing plan the most effective from the standpoint of both initial and long-term costs? Are present solutions the best solutions? Are pres- ent procedures the best procedures? What should be changed? How could it be changed?

Whereas the private sector in the United States has developed a means of giving employees a sense of ownership and control of their workspaces even as they are shared with others, most libraries provide all staff members with their own work surfaces, even though shifts may not overlap. In an effort to save space, however, often these work surfaces are too narrow or too shallow to be ef- ficient. Consider how providing shared usable work areas and sufficient personal or project storage may be effective for the designated tasks. Also consider that shared equipment often means that a work surface must be provided for that equipment in addition to separate personal work surfaces. Could a change in shifts better serve customers and staff needs in both time and space?

Where does staff training take place? What type of equipment and furnish- ings are appropriate to the type of training considered? What incentives are available to staff to improve operations? Good service depends on good training, high expectations, and appropriate equipment, furnishings, and space to perform effectively.

Flowcharts of optimized operations combined with personnel organization charts can assist in graphically describing each functional area. Then, using

Building Blocks for Planning Functional Library Space (American Library Associa- tion 2001) and thumbnail sketches of operations with dimensions applied, square footages may be assigned to tasks, personnel, and storage. These charts and sketches will later be useful in creating adjacency diagrams and building stacking plans.

What are the plans for the collection? What is the number of single-face sections needed in closed and in open shelving to serve the community? What is the preferred height of shelving for each portion of the open collection? Those figures should be double-checked with the height of the materials in the collection. Projections based on a volumes-per-square-foot formula do not take into account storage of nonstandard materials and handicap access to periodicals and other merchandised materials such as media, new books, and newspapers.

SUMMARY

These are challenging and exciting times. Although change is exponential, graceful and successful change may be most easily facilitated by thoughtful analysis and attention to detail during the planning process. The most common mistake made in connection with new or expanded library spaces or buildings is insufficiently detailed goals and insufficiently detailed space projections that

would not permit the overall goals to be accomplished. The result is almost al- ways an underfunded project.

Managing change is neither a small feat nor a small responsibility. Think creatively, and create a new standard for others to follow.

REFERENCES

American Library Association, Library Administration & Management Associa- tion, Buildings and Equipment Section, Functional Space Requirements Committee. 2001. Building Blocks for Planning Functional Library Space. Lan- ham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Himmel, Ethel, and William James Wilson. 1998. Planning for Results: A Public

Library Transformation Process. Chicago and London: American Library Association.

Leeman, Mike. 1998. “Future Mapping®: A Scenario-Based Approach to En- gaging Key Business Management in Evaluating and Choosing the “Best” Future for an Enterprise from a Set of Strategic Alternatives.” (Northeast Consulting Resources, Inc., Boston, MA) Slide presentation, Vision 2008: Mapping the Future of Libraries, 3M Innovation Workshop, Park Rapids, MN, 30 October–1 November.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brawner, Lee B., and Donald K. Beck. 1996. Determining Your Library’s Future

Size: A Needs Assessment and Planning Model. Chicago and London: Ameri- can Library Association.

Chepesiuk, Ron. 1998. “Internet College: The Virtual Classroom Challenge.”

American Libraries (March): 52–55.

Coffman, Steve. 1998. “What If You Ran Your Library Like a Bookstore?” Amer-

ican Libraries (March): 40–44.

Diess, Kathryn, and Joan Giesecke. 1999. “From Here to There: Moving to the Future Through Scenario Planning.” Library Administration and Management 13 (2): 99–104.

Hardesty, Larry. 2000. “Do We Need Academic Libraries?” Position paper, Asso- ciation of College and Research Libraries. www.ala.org/acrl/academiclib. html (accessed 21 January 2000).

Hawkins, Brian L., and Patricia Battin, eds. 1998. “The Unsustainability of the Traditional Library and the Threat to Higher Education.” In The Mirage of

Continuity: Reconfiguring Academic Information Resources for the 21st Century.

Publication 75. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Re- sources, Association of American Universities, 129–153.

Kranich, Nancy. “Libraries Create Social Capital.” Library Journal 126 (19): 40–41.

Leighton, Philip D, and David C. Weber. 2000. Planning Academic and Research

Library Buildings. 3d ed. Chicago: American Library Association.

“Multi-Use Facilities: Converging Destinies, E-Merging Facilities.” 1997. LAMA-BCUL program, American Library Association National Confer- ence, San Francisco, 29 June.

Young, Jeffery R. 1997. “In the New Model of the Research Library, Unused Books Are Out, Computers Are In.” Chronicle of Higher Education (17 Octo- ber): A27–28.

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