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Sensory Library Design: Responding to a Pandemic's Impact on Built Environments

As libraries turn their thoughts to planning for a reopening of their buildings, the onslaught of information about how to do so safely can be overwhelming. The opportunity lies in supporting health and well-being, while allaying fears associated with returning to buildings used by many. Considered through the lens of our senses and how we interact with one another, this article offers a helpful way to organize the many issues and options.

As libraries turn their thoughts to planning for a reopening of their buildings, the onslaught of information about how to do so safely can be overwhelming. The opportunity lies in supporting health and well-being, while allaying fears associated with returning to buildings used by many. Considered through the lens of our senses and how we interact with one another, this article offers a helpful way to organize the many issues and options.

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Introduction

As the world works toward establishing the new

normal, we must also turn our attention to the

next normal. Interventions in the built environment—where

we spend over 90% of our day

in the best of times—are necessary to ensure

healthy public and staff spaces in both the

short- and long-term. Using a building engages

the five primary senses—touch, sight, smell and

taste (through breathing the air), and hearing.

Each of these engagements with a building is

impacted by COVID-19.

Library buildings are social equalizers and

critical nodes of community connectivity.

Today’s libraries offer a wide range of resources

and services dedicated to fostering learning,

curiosity, and discovery in all the literacies

required to thrive. Open to all community

members (academic or municipal), library

buildings must support users in a full range of

activities, from solitary, focused work to large

meetings and social gatherings—and everything

between. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19,

many discussions about library design centered

around human interaction:

▪ Increasing space for community gathering

and collaboration.

▪ Creating spaces that promote exploration

through hands-on learning.

▪ Supporting learning about health and nutrition

through community kitchens.

▪ Housing tools and physical items as an

extension of the sharing economy.

▪ Bringing staff members together in

collaborative, flexible workrooms.

We still need these things to happen. Humans

are inherently social and need one another to

flourish and thrive. The built environment brings

us together to connect with other community

members. Erik Klinenberg writes in his book

Palaces for the People (Klinenberg 2018), “Social

cohesion develops through repeated human

interaction and joint participation in shared

projects.” The world’s complex problems (e.g.,

pandemics, racism, food insecurity, climate

change, and homelessness) require systems

thinking to solve. Shared spaces such as libraries

provide places where people can practice the

bridging skills needed to work across political

lines, cultures, and countries. Talent is distributed

equally, but access and opportunity are not. The

pandemic has magnified inequality. We need

the built environment and especially spaces

that are open to everyone. Libraries are connective

tissue in fractured communities, offering

places where relationships can develop, and

people learn to deal with difference, density, and

diversity.

Yet the risks associated with gathering in public

places while the pandemic is still ongoing are

real. We have quickly gotten used to meeting

online. In lieu of in-person programming, libraries

have pivoted to online programming and

podcasts. Curbside and remote holds pickup

services have reinstated much-needed access

to resources and entertainment. Even some volunteering

at the library has moved online. These

necessary adaptations and extensions of service

do not, however, replace the real need to be in

proximity to others and feel part of a community,

even if only to be alone together.

As libraries turn their thoughts to planning for

a reopening of their buildings, the onslaught of

information about how to do so safely can be

overwhelming. The opportunity lies in supporting

health and well-being, while allaying fears associated

with returning to buildings used by many.

Considering our senses and how we interact

with one another offers a helpful way to organize

the many issues and options.

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