Primary Research Group has published Redesigning the College Library Building, ISBN 1-57440-162-9, a successor report to our study Academic Library Building Renovation Benchmarks.

Redesigning the College Library Building looks closely at the building expansion and alteration plans of American college libraries. The study presents detailed data on capital spending current practices and future plans, specifying investment intent in critical areas such as information technology, new buildings, energy saving technology, furniture, "information commons" and other technology centers, auditoriums and classroom space, staff offices and collection storage space, among others. 

This highly detailed 225+ page report presents an array of data on the current and expected impact of digitization of collection content on use of library space, as well as specific information on assessing the results of major renovation projects.  Data in the report is based on a survey of 45 North American colleges; data is broken out by size and type of college, and by budget for renovation or alteration projects.

Just a few of the report’s major findings are that:

• Capital budgets for the libraries surveyed have mostly declined or remained about the same over the past three years, with budgets overall decreasing for 37.21% and remaining at the same levels for 46.51%.
• Roughly 50% of all libraries in the survey said that over the past three years they have used about the same amount of space for their collections, and almost 39% overall have decreased the amount they use.
• Over 95% of libraries overall plan to keep seating space at current levels or increase it.
• Only 2.2% had introduced the use of solar panels to generate electricity for the library.
• Over 59% of the libraries surveyed reported that they have used the services of an architect over the past two years.
• 28.89% said their last or current re-design plan included new landscaping for the exterior.
• 17.78% of the entire sample had made plans over the past three years to install, expand, or resituate a library cafe or restaurant.

The pdf version of the report is currently available; the print version will be ready to ship on April 1, 2011. Both print and pdf versions cost $93.00. For further information view our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.