Documenting Library Building Activity

Abstract

Revised version of a paper presented at the 8th Seminar on Library Buildings organized by the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment at the College of Librarianship Wales, 10-14 August 1987. Librarians involved in the planning of new library buildings need to visit other buildings of the same type, sometimes in other countries. However, it is not always easy to decide which libraries to visit because of the lack of systematic published descriptions and, in many cases, of a central location where both documentation relating to library buildings is available. Reviews published sources of information and existing collections of documentation on new library buildings and analyses the defects of the existing documentation. Concludes that, while the documentation of projects world-wide is probably impossible, buildings of international significance should be identified and described. This might be done by the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment. In each country, information and documentation should be available in a standardized form at one or more documentation centres.