Abstract
This study is aimed to examine the characteristics of library space, in which user experiences and social networking are central in its design. Today, a library is a place to provide diverse accesses and experiences to information networks, where various individuals and user groups come and share mutual understanding and experiences. Library users developed social ties and a sense of community through library experiences. As a multipurpose space of a community, a library has the characteristics of urban public space like sidewalks and plazas. The eight case studies of libraries are analyzed from the viewpoint of each factor of library experience, including landscape, sidewalk, and plaza experience. The study drew its conclusions as follows. First, a library is a regional landmark for the users. Thus, it tends to be designed to allow transparency on its surface which introduces inner and outer landscape into the inside of the building. Second, the users experience a library similarly as they experience an urban street where they interface, browse, and interact with people and information. As they interact and share experiences, they develop solidarity and social ties among them. A library is designed to preserve continuity to adjacent streets, which increases accessibility to the building and hosts street activities into the building. Third, a library today is designed to be a flexible open space with information networking as well as community networking which allows library users diverse activities within it. For example, a multipurpose grand stairs in the middle of the main circulation of a building allows the users diverse activities. A large open stack with reading areas gives the users the feeling of an urban plaza where they can move vertically and horizontally. In conclusion, all findings of this study imply a user-oriented design for a library building.