How can libraries best plan, create, and maintain spaces that foster learning? Although many library buildings have classrooms for formal instruction, more and more libraries are developing and supporting informal spaces where learning takes place outside of the classroom, whether for groups of students or for individuals. This collection takes it as a given that libraries have always been learning spaces, but it specifically examines how two changes—our understanding of learning processes and the impact of technology on learning—have transformed the planning, organization, and management of academic library buildings.

The collection’s scope is global; its first section focuses on case studies from six libraries in the United Kingdom, the United States, China, and Australia. Several commonalities emerge: These libraries all focus on situating the library as the geographic and symbolic center of learning on campus and connecting the library to its educational, environmental, and cultural contexts. They also offer a variety of spaces within the library—places for private study and public interaction, as well as semi-private spaces where learners can concentrate but also be energized by the community of learners around them. An example of this is the translucent “study igloos” at the Saltire Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University. Each case study in this section is headed by a keyword, such as flexibility, balance, silence, or ecology, that encapsulates the theme of the building project.

A theoretical section addresses wider, more universal concepts, such as technology and learning theory, as they pertain to the space planning and renovation process. A final section on the futures of library planning operates as a toolkit to help readers think about library learning spaces. Chapters not only address the actions and needs of the people—students, faculty, researchers, staff, and visitors—in libraries, but also address the objects and services in libraries, especially how the first consideration of any project should be how the interactions of users, objects, and services support learning. Overall, this collection, in particular the case studies and the practical information in the last section, will be invaluable for administrators, librarians, architects, and others embarking on a library building or renovation project.