Shown round by Director of the Library, Klaus Werner
Philological Library 6300m²
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| Free University, Berlin, built post WW2 to encourage interdisciplinary study and free enquiry. On a sunny day, 7 April 2011 |
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| The SCONUL contingent with Andreas Degwitz (2nd from right) |
Library scope is: Humanities & languages and classics
Round shape – energy saving design, and different from rectangles on rest of campus
Aluminium and glass panels; double skinned
Moved 13 libraries into 1
No air conditioning, ‘kind of’ a green building
Panels forming exterior of building open; except in rain, when air drawn in from below
Underfloor pipes of hot and cold water
Difficult first 12 months in 2001; now great for environmental management
'Vattenfall’ controls water temperature (commercial company?)
Library is for user services only – administration is next door in original university building, tunnel connects.
Melon yellow entrance – otherwise muted colours (greys and white) – very restful
Users have best light at fixed desks around perimeter, curved desks, no partitions.
Wireless plus fixed network plus power at every workspace
Friends of Library – donate €20K p.a.
Concept of 90s (design competition was won in 1996 by Norman Foster, but building was not finished until 2005). Based on demand for individual study spaces with printed materials.
No flexibility for creating group rooms, so no longer suitable for post-Bologna learning styles.
Photocopying in basement, scanners on each floor instead. Slightly cheaper than copying, but students still prefer copying.
Chairs from 1950s design by Berlin Architect Eiermann (designed new Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche) – chosen by users
750K books, capacity for 60-70K more, but reducing number of print in favour of e-books. Aim to remove shelves on 5th floor to create group study spaces.
Bad acoustics – noise travels up through large central atrium space.
Personal trolleys provided for users, lockable, and bookable for 4 weeks. Can be moved to desks, glass fronted. Had provided cupboards with solid doors, but cannot be used because books can be hidden inside.
No lending – except from front desk textbook collection?
Print shop in basement, outsourced to commercial company ‘Alpha.’
Group study spaces through tunnel in the administration building, which librarians could design (rather than the architect!), plus stacks for lesser used material
Special paint for projection onto wall (provides high resolution)
Can find books on shelves-even though they do not have RFID. The Katalog uses classmark to pick out shelf location- which is shown by bay on an interactive floorplan (see internet).
