Georgia State University Library – a few observations

Two weeks ago I visited the GSU Library a few blocks down the road from us. They recently completed a $23 million renovation and I was curious what they did with the space. Charging students a $35 fee per semester gets you a lot of change to work with—I wish we had a $5 library fee so that we could develop new spaces every few years.

Overall, the building felt very open and featured a lot of natural light. They are located in the heart of downtown ATL, so there are lots of interesting skyline views from all directions. The furniture and décor felt a little 50’s retro to me—I guess if you like that style that's one thing... most of our furniture on the upper floors is genuinely from that era, so I was hoping to see something fantastically contemporary. (Something fly!) Oh and the marble coffee tables seemed a bit gaudy, sorry, but with the trend toward flexibility I’m not really sure that fits.

Overall the place was great. I was impressed. It was clean—even the stacks seemed to sparkle. It had a very new feel. They say that the students love it, so that’s all that matters—they paid for it! And they’re the ones using the space.

A few photos:

Near the entrance they had these weird chairs. My colleagues loved them, but I don’t know.

I really liked how they used the walls as signs near the elevators and in the stairway. Very bold and effective.

You can see the mass of computers, looks like Herman Miller desks (?)--- but what I really like is the printer sign – it stands out when you are in the space.

I like this posting framework.

The kids section featured imprints on the stacks—this really stood out. I’d like to see that theme spread throughout the entire library: a chemist in the QDs; an accountant in the HF, etc.

Booths appear to be one of the hottest trends in libraries right now. I’ve tested the concept in focus groups and received mixed review—students seem to prefer the double horizontal benches, but GSU’s booths are nice and cozy.

They have a XL instruction room—something like 50 computers, along with this room equipped with laptops that fold under. I like the duality of both a lecture room as well as computer lab.

The real jewel of the library are the seemingly endless number of group study rooms—most of them with windows, whiteboards, power and data. It seemed that everywhere you turned there was another one.