custom library seating Archives - Carroll Seating Company

Published: 9 March 2016

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Categories: Furnishing a Library

There are many choices out there when it comes to choosing and designing the right bookcases that should be used for a school’s library and talking to the experts at Carroll Seating can help with making the right choices for a school’s library bookcases. What should you consider? Take a look.

The Height of Your Bookcases

The height of your bookcases will often depend on the age of the person who is using the library. For example, if the library is for younger children, you’ll want to go with shorter bookcases so that the children can have easy access to their books. If your patrons are primarily older students or adults, higher bookcases mean you double your storage options. If you have a mixed group of patrons, as you might in a K-12 facility, you may need bookcases at a variety of heights to help serve the needs of your population.

Creating Beauty

Bookcases come in a variety of heights, but the veneer choice can be just as important as the height. It can build the mood within your space, enhancing a love of reading and research at every turn. Wooden bookcases are easily the most traditional choice, and they seem to provide a more welcoming and pleasant atmosphere for a library. While most libraries use wood bookcases, steel bookcases are also an option that should be seriously considered. They are lighter, are often less expensive and they can be painted to make them look quite pleasant and welcoming. In fact, they can be painted with the school’s colors, which will give a spirited look for your school’s library.

Using Mobile Bookcases

Many libraries use mobile bookcases along with their standard stationary bookcases. These mobile bookcases are useful if the library needs to section off an area of the library when special programs are being done in an area of the library. Mobile bookcases are also useful when a person wants to rearrange an area in the library so by the use of mobile bookcases that can easily be moved around, the library is not cemented into the same look until the next time the library is remodeled.

When Space is a Consideration

With schools growing in population and school space remaining the same since schools are still using the same building it is often useful for schools to utilize the space that they have very carefully. As such, the use of modular designs, double faced library shelving and even movable library stacks can be some very nice additions to school libraries. This allows them to display the highest selection of books on their shelves when space is limited. If you have space concerns speak to the experts at Carroll Seating and let them help you design the best utilization of the space that is available.

To learn more about your options or take advantage of our design services, contact us today.

Published: 24 March 2015

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Furnishing a Library

School libraries are changing fast. Like classroom designs, they have to meet very different needs than they once did, and with that change comes a necessary shift in bookcase options. Before you design a new school library or offer a facelift to the old one, though, exploring the many choices available to you is a good idea. Take a look:

Single or Double Faced: Depending on the layout of your library, you may want to go with single or double faced book cases. Single faced are those that have a back panel with shelving on a single side. They work best against the walls of your library space. Double faced shelves have panels on both sides for sturdy book storage that makes the most of the available space in your library. You may need a combination of the two to achieve the right layout.
Construction Materials: Today’s school libraries are as much about feel as they are about the contents of the library itself, and going with bookcases that are a bit different can give you that warm feel you want. Wooden bookshelves offer you a classic look that comes in a number of different finishes. Steel bookcases are lighter and less expensive and can sometimes come in non-traditional finishes like school colors. You can also choose from newer options like those with wood and steel for the classic look without the cost.
Shelves: You typically have the option of going with adjustable or fixed shelving with each book case purchase. Adjustable shelves give you flexibility to change the layout at some point in the future to help make your library a bit different every single year. Fixed shelving, though, may be a must in elementary library settings so students can reach the bookcases.

No matter what bookcases you choose, let us help. Contact us today to reach a personal project manager who can help you select the right layout for your space.

Published: 9 September 2014

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Furnishing a Library

Now more than ever before, college libraries have a challenge ahead of them. The challenge is technology, so while college students will likely always need the study space the library provides, they need the physical resources less and less all of the time thanks to the extensive ability to obtain many of these same resources online. Traditional study carrels and areas just don’t work for today’s students. A concept that might? One borrowed from the business world called hoteling or hot desking.

What Is It?

The idea is a fairly simple one. Because many employees are on the run these days to customers, sales meetings, or other offices, the desk space remains unused much of the time. As a result, freeing some of that up, and thus needing smaller work areas overall, is finally possible. Thus the idea of hoteling was born. The concept is this – when an employee is going to need a workspace, he calls ahead to the concierge (or office manager, as the case may be) to reserve a desk space. That desk space is then open for him on a given day at a given time, and he has the space he needs to work.

The idea is pretty easily transferable to college libraries, though you may need to put some policies in place to make it work well. There are several software solutions on the market today to help make it work well from an administration standpoint. Students, particularly on those campuses where many students commute or live off-campus, reserve a great workstation for a period of time. Libraries are sure their workstations are put to good use, and students aren’t trying to study in the noise of the food court.

Making It Work

If hoteling might be a good choice for your library, the essential factor will be the workspace itself. You have to have amazing casework to play this game. Students aren’t going to want to reserve a space if it isn’t comfortable and useful, so much thought has to go into the areas themselves. Keep in mind that you probably don’t want to give your entire library over to the concept, but dedicating a portion to the space is going to do excellent things for both your library and the students themselves. The work areas need to fulfill the simple needs of students who wish to study or complete assignments. An attractive work surface is a given, but you should also ensure students have access to power, maybe even a variety of available charging cords for various devices. Beautify it with some task lighting, and add some functionality with a coat hook or even a trash can. All of these things are simple to accomplish, but they’ll make these hoteling spaces amazing for student use.

Not all business concepts have a place in education, but this is one that certainly does.

Published: 18 March 2014

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Furnishing a Library

If you recently walked into a library and thought, “This isn’t quite what I remember,” you’re not alone. Many of today’s libraries are designed to be open environments, perfect to support diverse needs, including those of individuals and groups. It’s a popular idea, and with good reason. Libraries aren’t what they used to be. Demographics are changing fast, and so too are the needs of libraries. They’re often as much about community collaboration as they are about individuals spending time with reference materials. As a result, the physical landscape of libraries has to shift at the same time, and much of the responsibility of that shift lies in the right furniture.

Tables and Chairs Defining Libraries?

Libraries were once just about books, but that can’t be the case anymore. Sure, just a few decades ago the best way to study up on a concept was to look through past printed material, but people don’t work that way anymore. Instead, the best researchers consult printed material, digital material, and even other people to share information. As a result, libraries have to move from shelves of printed material to technology bases that allow as much space for equipment as they do for people. Getting the right book may be as simple as using the library’s wifi connection to download it from their site instead of consulting the card catalog to go back in the shelves and find it.

Enter furniture solutions. With comfortable chairs to sit in while you’re holding your tablet, spots to take a break and talk with other patrons, and bright, friendly story time areas for the smallest patrons, the idea of an open library quickly becomes a reality, even without other vast changes to the space itself. The simple addition of open and individualized study spaces in the same spot transforms what used to be a dark place with people going “Shhhh!” all of the time to a light, airy environment where grabbing what you need may mean plugging in or heading back to the stacks for a closer look at that book.

To learn more about our complete line of open library furniture, contact Carroll Seating Company today. From the initial design to the installation phase, we’re right here to help you develop the perfect space for all of your patrons.

Published: 9 April 2013

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Casework & Millwork

Public libraries are unlike any other spaces on the planet. They’re not even really like other libraries. College libraries serve only the needs of university students and academics. School libraries are specifically designed for kids of various ages. Specialty libraries are often dedicated just to experts.

Public libraries, though, have to meet the needs of the many. From great reading areas for kids to help entice them in day after day to careful spaces constructed for elderly patrons, public libraries need special attention when it comes to design, so we’re nothing short of proud to put our name on the design work of the Alsip Marionette Park Library.

A Year in the Making
Some design projects take just a few months. Others, like this one, take quite a bit more work. We got started in January of 2012. After preliminary designs, pricing, and all of the details that go into any of our projects, we were finally able to install some of our Brodart Contract Furniture line in February of 2013. All of it was custom made for the library.

In the adult sections, we were able to design double faced computer carrels to save space as well as individual study carrels with pop up power and data for those using laptops. We also integrated new reading tables, study tables in the study room, double sided book displays, and custom OPAC stations as well as dictionary and atlas stands.

In the children’s area, we designed square and round tables at heights that worked for both children and adolescents. We also created half-moon computer stations with velcroable front panels for reading fun. Additionally, we added a customized children’s puzzle table among other things.

This project really demonstrates how far we’ve branched out from the idea of seating. We wanted to be part of this from the start. With us, you know you’re never going to have to flip open a catalog, point to what you want, and have us assemble it. Instead, we invest ourselves in delivering exactly what you’re looking for, and we succeed with quality and precision.