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Furnishing The Future
What is the current state of the library furniture industry? First, the good news: The number of manufacturers doing business in the US. has increased. Eighteen or so, to my knowledge, are currently active, and some of them are interested in solving today’s problems. Some have even expanded their design vocabulary and finish selections options.
Functional Interior Design
What is available in standard lines? Worden, the leader in introducing designs that reflect changes in library technology, was the first to offer wire management solutions for desks and carrels. The firm’s awareness of safety and electrical-code requirements appears to be the best in the industry. The Addenda series of panel-end tables and carrels, though expensive, first introduced real eased edges and transitional detailing in a high-quality product. For an upcharge, Worden is willing and able to do specials in design and in finishes. The Diametron contemporary series offers wire management, many finishes, and task righting in round-legged tables and carrels.
Interior Design Management
Worden’s management is very design oriented now, and, in addition to library furnishings, Worden produces a fine of seating for offices. Be aware, though, that guest chairs in offices rarely offer the posture appropriate for use as a reading chair. It is my opinion that the seats on both the handsome H.E.L. and Academy chairs are pitched too far back to offer enough support in a reading position.
At ALA Midwinter, Library Bureau introduced its new fine of wire-management accessories to be specified in new furnishings. Whereas Worden does not offer wire management items separate from its furniture, the Library Bureau rep indicated that LB products are available for retrofitting existing furniture, and, supposedly for non-Library Bureau pieces.
Gaylord and Brodart now offer “custom design” within their Classics and Spectrum series, meaning you can purchase items to fit your library’s requirements in one coordinated design vernacular.
Gaylord’s Classic/Custom series detail features a mitered, bull-nosed edge with a brass reveal on both panel ends and work surfaces. The furniture may be constructed of maple, mahogany, walnut, or oak and finished to your specifications. Brodart’s Spectrum series features eased, radiused edges on panel ends. Both series have apron-free reading tables.
Gaylord’s Informa Group, constructed of oak veneer on Finnish plywood, is their first effort to manage wires on service desks and at carrels and to provide solutions to many library needs in a single style. Modular pedestals in the circulation desk and 41- and 28-inch-high surfaces are available. Only the square and round reading tables are available without aprons, presently; but the series is in the process of being redesigned, and perhaps eliminating aprons as will as the intermediate barriers on the circulation desk work surface will be one of the refinements.
At Midwinter, Gaylord introduced an economical landscape-type panel system for technical workstations and for patron carrels. The system comes in a wide variety of widths and heights, includes adjustable work surfaces and shelves, and has a reasonable NRC rating. Gaylord’s new commitment to the library furniture industry includes a specifier’s catalog, which will have complete information regarding the entire line.
When it comes to marketing solutions, Demco leads the way. Displays for video cassettes, audio cassettes, compact discs, and paperbacks are all available in popular finishes in the new catalog. The popular wood-framed revolving rack can be ordered to house all the above items, with a different media type in each segment.
Demco’s standing floor display for periodicals is the best space-efficient solution on the market.
Enter the Europeans! Highsmith’s “Scania” collection has been expanded to include chairs, tables, children’s furniture, shelving, and a cleverly engineered modular service desk with wire management. Veneered beechwood over particleboard in natural or rosewood finish, oak stains on ash, walnut stains, or walnut or custom matched samples are available on all products. Stack righting is available in a wide range of colors for attachment to each section of Scania and other brands of shelving. Work surfaces are off-white linoleum or plastic laminate.
Similarly designed, but the most extensive line of library furniture currently available, is that from the Danish Library Design Bureau. Engineered to last, this system runs from soup to nuts, and is nearly a one-stop source. And the firm seeks turnkey installations.
Most of the components are hung off metal shelving standards. The Danes seem to have thought of everything while using the maximum amount of cubic area available. The components are rugged; the flexibility built-in. Their focus is on function and product development-and they remembered children older than five! As the lean look of European design becomes more acceptable in the States, DLDB’s Texas offices promise to be busy fulfilling orders.
Interior Design By Numbers 