Housing Library Collections

Abstract

Back in the days when absolutes were all the rage, a book was a book and we all knew how many it took to make an effective collection in a community of a given size. Knowing this, we also knew how much space it took to house such a collection. For example Interim Standards for Small Public Libraries, published by the American Library Association (ALA) in 1962, allowed for building sizes ranging from .6 of a square foot per capita for populations between 25,000 and 49,999, to .8 of a square foot per capita for populations under 2,499. One of the essential ingredients in determining building size was the anticipated size of the book collection; ALA recommended two books per capita for larger libraries to four books per capita or more for smaller ones, with a minimum collection size set at 10,000 volumes. These formulations did not differ significantly from other sources, a fact which is hardly surprising since these standards were largely traceable to the work of the dean of all building consultants, Joseph Wheeler.

Citation

(1987), "Housing Library Collections", Collection Building, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 29-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb023222