During the past several weeks I have had two meetings about furnishings and electrical outlet needs for the renovated library space. Our VP for student services has been put in charge of furnishing the building and needs to translate the needs (and just plain desires) of the occupying departments into a physical set of specifications that can be ordered from some furniture supplier! [Lucky me, I'm sure she said to herself]
At any rate, we had our first meeting two weeks ago and we concluded that, neither of us had enough information about the space configuration to make firm decisions. I thoought I had an understanding of the architects functional design and she assumed she did as well--including directives from the campus presient. It turns out that our understandings did not coincide. We decided to wait on furniture decisions until after another meeting with the architects and contractors shceduled for the following week. We figured we would get the best information-as well as getting the same information - we were likely to get as to locations of electrical outlets and space configurations.
Every meeting, no matter how well intentioned seems to spawn a host of new considerations, complications and opportunities. I'll go through that at a future post.
Angela Napili’s “Charmed Life” at the Congressional Research Service
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Angela Napili is a senior research librarian at the Library's Congressional
Research Service. In this Q&A, she says she's had a charmed life, inluding
gett...
Posts
Getting professional help (architects / designers) is smart, but don't underestimate your staff and your patrons. They can tell you what is needed and where.
ReplyDeleteI've seen many, many renovations that the architect / designer loved, but long after they are gone, you, your staff, and your patrons find out what really works.
Good Luck!