UFC 4-740-20
1 May 2006
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FACILITY REQUIREMENTS
In developing the space program for an individual facility, consider the issues of overall
building design and relationships discussed in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. The space
allocation sizes provided are not definitive space programs, but guides to approximate
space sizes recommended for the given size facility. Space requirements for Library
Extension Services (LES) facilities and Learning Resource Centers (LRC) are based on
local conditions and identified requirements of the community served.
In addition to the space program for each facility, consider the need or potential for
consolidation of the library into a shared facility with a BEC or Learning Center. It may
be beneficial for some functional areas, like computer labs, to be shared with the BEC.
Management, supervision, and maintenance responsibilities may also need to be
evaluated along with the facility requirements.
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CORE FUNCTIONAL AREAS
Most general libraries have six specific core functional areas with local variation in the
scope of operation under each category. These functional area categories include the
following:
Public Services Areas
Information Services Areas
Children's Areas
Administration Areas
Technical Services Areas
Support Areas
2-4.1
Public Services Areas
The main components of all library facilities are the public services areas that primarily
address materials and resources for adults, including collections, reading areas,
computer terminals, and service desks. Growth and expansion should be added to
these capacities, as required. The actual size of the general, reference, and special
collections spaces and the relative size of each type of collection may vary considerably
from library to library.
The public services areas include most of the public spaces of the library, such as the
circulation desk, circulation spaces, general collection stacks, reference desk with
consultation area for customers, reference collections, on-line public access catalog
(OPAC) computer stations, reading areas, audio/visual (A/V) viewing stations, A/V
collections, special collections, periodicals, microform viewing stations, small group
study areas, display/bulletin board areas, reproduction areas, and fax/scanning areas.
2-4.2
Information Services Areas
Information services consist of computer workstation areas, computer labs, equipment,
and related infrastructure, as required. Information services are included or housed
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