Seattle Public Library -Libraries for All, Memo: Two-Story Libraries and Structured Parking

Libraries for All
Capital Program Office:
capital.program@spl.org
1000 Fourth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98104
206-386-4624

Memorandum

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To:

Library Board of Trustees

Date:

May 17, 2000

From:

Deborah L. Jacobs, City Librarian
Ray Serebrin, director of neighborhood libraries
David T. Kunselman, capital projects manager

Subject:

Branch Library Projects: Two-Story Libraries and Structured Parking

It is an exciting time to live in Seattle. As the economy continues to soar, public and private development are bringing neighborhood plans to life and defining our urban villages. The Libraries For All building program is playing a large role in this development. Many of the neighborhood plans specifically addressed their local libraries and in the case of those communities slated for a new one, they planned for the buildings to be placed in the heart of their neighborhood. While the goals of the urban village are clear in managing density, it creates a challenge in siting the branch library projects. The logical and desired location for the libraries is in the center of the urban village. Not coincidentally, this is where the greatest density already exists and vacant properties or underutilized parcels are almost nonexistent. It is this reality that has led the Seattle Public Library to study the feasibility of two-story libraries and structured parking.

Libraries the size of the branch library projects have traditionally been one story with ground level access. Carnegie era libraries are an exception to this and present their own unique challenges. The reason for libraries to be on one level has less to do with the availability of land and more to do with the function of the building, the architectural program and the ease of use. The interior layout of the collections and the reading room in the public areas rely on many functional relationships to efficiently provide the level of library service expected by patrons today.

MOVEMENT OF MATERIALS
While staff have specific job functions within individual sections of the library, patron questions often require that they access material located throughout the library. The entire collection must be accessed to shelve materials that are either returned to the branch or are received in shipments from the delivery trucks. Similarly, items that have been requested or placed on hold must be retrieved from the shelved collection and placed in the reserve shelving for the branch or placed in a shipment to another branch. The efficiencies of a library can be measured by the flow of materials throughout the building. A second floor in branch libraries greatly increases the distance that materials must be carted, wheeled and carried to deliver the expected level of library service. Elevators and dumbwaiters add additional time in doing this work.

SECURITY AND SUPPORT
In the interest of safety, libraries must be laid out to provide direct supervision to all public areas. This includes the entrance and lobby, the public meeting rooms and the restrooms as well as the collections themselves. For safety reasons, the Library requires that two staff members be present at all times. It is likely that this approach would be duplicated on a second story.

Increasingly patron and staff security are becoming an issue at Seattle Public Library. The Library has had a marked increase in violent and threatening episodes in the past year. At the Henry Library on Capitol Hill, drug use is so prevalent that staff now must control access to public restrooms. Capitol Hill has also been the scene of a variety of confrontations with aggressive mentally ill patrons. At the Rainier Beach Library, groups of belligerent youth challenge staff and patrons with aggressive words, posturing and acting out (yelling and hostility, drug use in the stacks, slashing of upholstery, etc). At the Lake City Library, incidents of problem customers harassing patrons and staff with threatening and sometimes violent behavior have increased. NewHolly and Madrona require security for control of large numbers of children and teenagers and aggressive behavior. In this atmosphere, staffs require clear sightlines, easy control of public service areas and double staffing at service points, all of which are compromised by a multi-story building.

ACCESS TO CHILDREN'S MATERIALS
The children's collection is one relatively distinct collection that could be segregated on another floor, as long as it remained adjacent to the public meeting room that is also used for children's programming. However, such a configuration makes it impossible for a parent to supervise children while they use nearby adult areas of the library, as is possible in a one-story building. Juvenile nonfiction collections are currently inter-filed with the nonfiction collection, which allows patrons young and old to find all relevant titles on a particular topic. This has been determined to be both efficient and friendly toward library patrons. These collections would have to be segregated with some duplication if spread over a two-story building.

PROFESSIONAL OPINION
The discussion regarding multiple floors is not new to the library profession. Brawner and Beck address the issue in Determining Your Public Library's Future Size: A Needs Assessment and Planning Model. They claim "single-level public library facilities are generally recommended if they do not exceed 55,000 to 60,000 GSF (gross square feet). Single-level library buildings are saved the space and expense of vertical transportation (elevators and stairs) and the added cost to staff an additional level. Single library levels in excess of 60,000 GSF tend to disorient patrons and result in loss of efficiency for staff who must walk excessive distances in the performance of their duties. If a library site dictates a second building level, that level typically houses non-public service areas."¹

As a compromise, some libraries have explored mezzanines as a solution. Raymond Holt addresses this as an alternative to adding another floor in Planning Library Buildings and Facilities: From Concept to Completion. He raised many of the same issues that are relevant to a discussion on two-story libraries. While mezzanines may be a possibility for academic libraries, supervision is still the primary concern in a public setting. Mezzanines may in fact introduce additional concerns such as increased interior column points that reduce the building's flexibility over time and increased acoustical concerns, which are a concern in any library configuration. Whereas academic libraries can use mezzanines for quiet study space, the noise produced in a public library is only multiplied by the addition of a mezzanine.²

THE EXPERIENCE OF OTHER LIBRARIES
Even though the research often underscores difficulties presented by multi-story libraries, most library systems in urban areas have explored the issues and resultant costs.

The King County Library System, which operates more than 40 libraries, has only one example of a multi-story library. The Bellevue Regional Library is its largest facility at 80,000 GSF. It has three floors and a combination of structured and surface parking. All of its other libraries, which range up in size to the newly opened 30,000-GSF Redmond Regional Library, are on one level.

In Portland, the Multnomah County Library System has one example of a two-story branch library. It is a historic Carnegie library. In that example, all of the public service functions are located on the first floor while the second floor houses the public meeting room, the computer center, the staff office and the staff lounge.

PROGRAMMING ASSUMPTIONS
The Library Board of Trustees adopted the Universal Branch Building Program in January. It specifies the program requirements, including square footage and adjacencies, for branch libraries up to 15,000 square feet. In each case, it assumes a ground level, one-story library. (Although libraries of this size are one story in use, the height and exterior elevations are similar to two-story building heights. This is because of the high ceilings necessary to create the proper civic scale.) If the Seattle Public Library were to consider a two-story model for some of the 10,000 and 15,000 GSF branch projects, the following model could be used in conducting a cost-benefit analysis:

10,000 GSF

15,000 GSF

Level One

Entrance/lobby (public restrooms)

NA *

NA *

Circulation area

1,751

2,277

Children area

1,124

1,622

Meeting /multipurpose room

855

1,020

Staff facilities

330

390

Total on this level

4,060 SF

5,309 SF

Level Two

Reference area

1,432

1,896

General adult

2,476

4,504

Periodical/reading

320

650

Young adult

407

666

Total on this level

4,635 SF

7,716 SF

Total assigned space

8,695 SF

13,025 SF

Unassigned space at 15% *

1,304 SF

1,954 SF

Additional space at two stories

1,220 SF

1,470 SF

Grand total

11,219 GSF

16,449 GSF

COSTS
In terms of cost, the capital expenses of building a two-story library are increased by the addition of an elevator, exit stairs, and additional services that would need to be duplicated on each level, such as toilet rooms, the copier room and staff work space. If collections are housed on both levels, the structure must be appropriately sized to carry the weight of the collections. This cost must be measured against potential savings in site acquisition costs and other efficiencies of a building with a smaller footprint. Analysis may show structured parking to be cost-effective in neighborhoods where the density and property values outweigh the cost of structured parking at $20,000-$25,000 per stall as compared to approximately $8,000 per surface stall.

It is the annual operating cost of a two-story library that is significantly different from that of a one-story facility. The Neighborhood Library Services Office, in cooperation with the Budget Office, has recently completed a study of additional personnel costs for the operation of a prototype 10,000-square-foot, two-story branch. (Personnel costs for a 15,000-square-foot, two-story branch would increase proportionately.) The study assumed the following conditions, based on the Universal Building Program:

Adult collections and reference services would be housed on a second floor.
Circulation and children's services would be housed on the first floor, along with a meeting room, delivery and backroom activities.
Children's non-fiction materials would be housed with children's fiction on the first floor.
At least 2 staff members are required on each floor at any given time, for security reasons.

Notes: 1) Cost comparisons use the staffing budget for our current Capitol Hill/Henry Branch Library as a baseline. 2) A configuration with children's services and a meeting room upstairs and adult and circulation services downstairs was also analyzed. Cost impacts were similar.

The personnel budget for a two-story library was based on detailed desk and shelving schedules calculated over a typical two-week period. It accounted for staffing two separate reference desks (one for adults and one for children) and a circulation desk. In addition, shelving staff for two floors was calculated. The bulk of identified cost increases are the result of increases in librarian and shelving staffing to ensure coverage of a second floor, to provide double coverage during peak periods, and to provide time for some librarian off-desk activities, including collection development work, community outreach, public programming and meeting attendance.

New public libraries often experience and sustain up to a 40 percent increase in use over and above new demand typically associated with increases in size, collections and service offerings. Yearly cost estimates for this exercise were developed based on:

Projected demand for services at a typical new 10,000 square foot library.
Three potential levels of increased circulation for a new 10,000 square foot library: 0 percent, 20 percent and 40 percent.

ESTIMATES OF ANNUAL OPERATING COSTS

A two-story, 10,000-square-foot library with typical demand for services and a 0 percent increase in use and circulation, would require an additional $243,412 in annual operating costs for 4.40 additional full-time equivalent staff (FTE). Of that amount, costs associated solely with the addition of a second story total $187,290 for 3.75 FTE.
A two-story, 10,000-square-foot library with typical demand for services and a 20 percent increase in use and circulation, would require an additional $273,162 in annual operating costs for 5.34 additional FTE. Of that amount, costs associated solely with the addition of a second story total $201,035 for 4.00 FTE.
A two-story, 10,000-square-foot library with typical demand for services and a 40 percent increase in use and circulation would require an additional $342,751 in annual operating costs for 6.67 additional FTE. Of that amount, costs associated solely with the addition of a second story total $224,054 for 4.33 FTE.

SUMMARY
Two-story libraries may or may not be more expensive to build, but they are much more expensive to staff. For safety reasons and for the delivery of an appropriate level of library service, libraries today must be built to ensure direct supervision throughout the building. This includes restrooms and meeting spaces that are identified as prime candidates for placement on a second floor. Adapting a two-story library to meet these needs, while staying within an allowable design and construction budget, often results in an organization of functional elements that is less than ideal. Efficiencies in a library can be measured by the flow of materials throughout the building. A second floor in branch libraries greatly increases the distance that books must be carted, wheeled and carried to provide the expected level of library service. Our current operating budgets are based on one-story library operating models. A change in this model would significantly increase operating budgets for the life of the building. While the capital budget for new and expanded libraries has been established by the Libraries for All bond campaign, operating budgets, based on future City appropriations, are less certain.

Content modified: 26 June 2000

12/30/2005