The recently completed Akron-Summit County Public Library in Akron, Ohio, features five renovated floors and three of new construction that nearly doubled its former size. Designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects of New York, the glass-and-concrete building, with its glowing three-story atrium, is a focal point of downtown Akron's cultural, commercial and architectural center. Even the shelving was designed to complement the architecture of the building.
“The main issue is never having enough space for all your needs,” said General Manager Richard Ewing. “By working with Spacesaver, we were able to maximize the potential of the building.” The library staff had worked with Spacesaver through Area Contractor, Central Business Group, so they knew problems would be solved in a cooperative partnership, preventing costly change orders and saving both money and time.
A big challenge was the wide variety of items that needed to be stored — everything from small items, like cassettes, CDs, DVDs and videos, to books, periodicals, special collections and a 5-foot-long Soap Box Derby car.
“Like most public libraries, we store every type of media available,” said Ewing, “so standard shelving wasn't going to work.” With the help of Kevin Janisko, a Central Business Group storage expert, a custom AV shelving system was developed that adjusts to different depths to accommodate various-sized media. “The staff loves it because of its flexibility,” said Ewing. “Kevin solved our media problems by incorporating custom solutions into existing Spacesaver products.”
Other examples of Spacesaver ingenuity include adding a pullout feature to an existing browsing bin for small songbooks and play books. The same solution was also used in the two-tier browsing bin for CD storage in the Teen section. Hanging files keep pamphlets well organized and facilitate visibility in several departments. For periodicals storage, Princeton boxes needed to be factored into the equation. By modifying the hinged arm on the shelving, Spacesaver was able to provide the necessary clearance. When the staff expressed a concern that the black tops on the shelving units would absorb too much light, Spacesaver custom-painted them white to reflect maximum light.
Even much of the cantilever shelving was ordered in custom heights. The architects designed single-face shelving along the walls, so shelving needed to be sized to fit the niches. In the Children's Room, a third of the double-faced shelving is custom height. Standard is 42 inches, but the library needed 48-inch high units to accommodate three shelves of children's books. Spacesaver was readily able to accommodate this need.
Another example of Kevin's problem-solving strategies is how he incorporated partial slat walls into the end panels, a cost-saving move that is also great for marketing new book displays. “What we have looks elegant, yet it's still functional,” said Ewing.
Brainstorming with library staff led to the idea of using flooring on end panels in the Children's Library. Meticulously matching the floor graphics and continuing the flooring up onto the end panels makes the shelving appear to rise right out of the floor.
“Kevin sees solutions that other people don't see,” said Ewing. “Everything's a solution to a problem and better than if there had been no problem at all — yet Kevin and Spacesaver never lost sight of the integrity of the design.”
