An Investigation of the Architectural Spaces of Shiraz University Libraries with Respect to Design Standards as well as Academic Library Standards

This study investigates the architectural spaces of Shiraz University Libraries from users' viewpoints on architectural concepts and academic library standards. It also explores the architectural areas, appropriateness, and arrangement of internal communication inside the libraries and the strengths and weaknesses regarding activities performed in a typical academic library. The research method was a descriptive survey with a quantitative and qualitative approach. There were two statistical populations in this study. One was all the libraries in the faculties of Shiraz University, whose buildings have been designed for this purpose from the beginning. The other was all the students of different fields in the faculties of engineering, humanities, educational sciences, social sciences, law, veterinary medicine, agriculture, and basic sciences of Shiraz University. The optimization method was Cochran's formula to determine the sample size. A researcher-made questionnaire for users containing fifty-four items on eight aspects of libraries, namely: the exterior space, main entrance space, circulation desk space, nonprint materials space (audiovisual resources, electronic resources, and databases), reference sources space, study hall space, hallways and service spaces and environmental issues such as airconditioning. Another tool was a checklist based on the standards for Iranian university libraries and the fourth edition of the Sannwald Checklist (2009) published by the American Library Association. Based on this checklist, the spaces of the libraries were examined by observing and interviewing the library staff. The results obtained from the users' point of view, observation of libraries, and interviews with staff show that although some standards have been considered in the overall design of the library buildings of Shiraz University, many architectural standards and concepts have either been ignored or not fully considered in subspaces. The main problem seen in almost all libraries is the lack of a special entrance for disabled library patrons. In most cases, users' attitudes were in line with staff opinions and observations.