Luking Library, Taiwan

Book display area and e-book reading

Name of the Library: Luking Library
Parent Organisation: Providence University

Street Address:  Postal Address: 43301
Telephone : 886-4-26328001 ext. 11631(incl Country code)
Web Address: http://www.lib.pu.edu.tw/
Library Email: lukingmesg@lib.pu.edu.tw
Type of Library : Central/ Main
Population served: Providence University Community
Project Type: Conversion  Refurbishment
Size (square metres): 21,931
Date of Completion: 1988, Extension: 2005, Conversion / Refurbishment: 2015
Architect:
Chen-Chen Tang (1987, 2005, Original and Extension Architect)
Meng-Chin Liu (2015, Conversion / Refurbishment

Reading and relaxing spaces. Discussion rooms

Description

History
In 1953, the Providence library was established on Fuhsing Road in Taichung, Taiwan. In 1964, it was officially named the Luking Library in honor of Mother Marie Gratia Luking, the founder of the college. In 1988, when the university relocated to its present site in Shalu, the library holdings were moved to a brand new building. In 2005 a major extension to the library was completed, and since then the library has undergone a major renovation of space which saw completion in 2015. Luking Library is now listed as one of The 10 Libraries You Must Visit in Taiwan.

Our Collection
The library holdings that amount to approximately 1,500,000 items include books, journals, newspapers, audio-visual materials and on-line resources. Books in English Literature, American Literature, and Children’s Literature are featured.

Space Design
The space in the Luking Library is based on a user-demand principle. The goal of this design is for library users to enjoy multiple ways of reading and self-study that will stimulate great ideas.

When you enter the library, the first place you notice is the Book Display Area. Here the library commonly places books grouped under special themes, including the nine subjects of the library archives, new arrivals, festivals, and current issues. Benches, couches, chairs are set under natural lighting so that users can comfortably spend their time in this area. Besides the traditional book exhibition, different brands of electronic tablets are available next to the Book Display Area for users to enjoy the fun of e-book reading and to experience the difference between reading on paper and reading on screens.

If one wants to find a good place to read throughout the library, there are many choices. From the First to the Fourth Floor, there are separate corners presenting the concepts of time, maze, writer’s corner and nostalgia. On the Third Floor, there is a nice, cozy open space for reading and relaxing, featuring bean bag chairs and several shelves with comics. The library is meant to be a friendly place for optimum use.
A learning commons is provided on the Second Floor and discussion rooms are located on the Third Floor. Both contain chairs, tables, and electronic equipment for patrons’ use. The offering of group study space in the library is one of many methods used to inspire and advance research, teaching, and life-long intellectual growth.

Finally, there is a comfortable new space on the Third Floor called the Reading Salon. With a high-ceiling design, it’s not only good for reading, but for holding events such as speeches by authors, movie appreciation, classical music performances, summer reading camps and Asian tea ceremonies to experience the art of living.

Reading salon

High-Quality Innovative Services
Our librarians also plan special events for library users. Through these activities, we hope that all users will learn to take advantage of all that the Luking Library has to offer.

At the beginning of each new semester, the library holds a “Teacher Appreciation Tea Ceremony” to emphasize the etiquette within the art of living. For regular activities such as “Read, and Think Differently” (Book思異), various artists, scholars and performers are invited to share their experiences with the audience. During summer vacation, a summer camp is offered to elementary school students from the countryside. The children spend three days and two nights in the library engaging in activities that focus on building their reading and writing skills.

The library also holds training sessions and workshops for its regular users and helps them to set the foundations for lifelong-learning. With a positive attitude toward all library users, we provide accurate and professional, immediate replies to all requests.
For more information about the library events please go to Luking Library FB fan page.
Awards, case studies, further information

• 2015 The 10 Libraries You Must Visit in Taiwan
• 2011 Cooperate with Hyweb Technology Co., Ltd. developing Library Automation system.
• 2010, 2013, 2014 Excellence in Interlibrary Loan Service of Interlibrary Cooperation Association
• 1991 Green Building Award

 

Kaohsiung Main Public Library, Taiwan

A gift to be opened

Name of the Library: Kaohsiung Main Public Library
Parent Organisation: Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Kaohsiung City Government

Street Address: No.61, Singuang Rd., Cianjhen Dist., Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
Postal Address: 80661
Telephone : +886-7-5360238
Web Address:  http://www.ksml.edu.tw/mainlibrary/index.aspx
Library Email：lib6a@mail.ksml.edu.tw
Type of Library : Central/ Main Library
Population served: 2,777,948
Project Type:  New Building
Size (square metres): 37,233
Date of Completion: 13/11/2014
Architect: Ricky Liu and the Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s team

International Picture Book Centre

 

Description
As a gift to the citizens of Kaohsiung city, the Kaohsiung Main Public Library’s permanent commitment is to not only provide citizens with rich collection and a multifunctional facility for reading, learning and recreation but also connect citizens to the community and world and cultivate citizens with vision.

Since the establishment of the library in 1916, it has been renamed three times and relocated 6 times. In 2009, for the old main public library building came to be inadequate and obsolete, the plan for a new main public library building was drawn up. After five years of evaluation, arrangement and execution, a new main public library became a reality in 2014. Meanwhile, it’s also a cultural landscape and city landmark, showing and displaying creativity, energy and sustainability.

The construction of the new library is based on the result of an international design competition. The winning design is from the collaboration between Ricky Liu and the Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s team. The architectural techniques applied in the new library building are unique for the use of suspended steel rods contributing to lightweight construction as well as glass curtain walls, making it the most spatially penetrable library in the world.

The design concept of the new main library comes from large trees. Being inspired by the shade of a tree in which people can sit, the architects make the first floor a 7.5 meter in height column-less space where citizens can read books, take a rest or exercise. Citizens can also enjoy a cup of coffee and a light meal on the first to third floor. Furthermore, the green energy and environmental protection concept is embodied in every floor of this building, such as the five-meter-deep green terraces on the southwest sides of the third to eighth floors offering citizens a wonderful green space for reading and a cool place to hide from the burning rays in summer. From the sixth to eighth floor, there is a “Tree Chamber” planted in the zone surrounded by the skylights, enabling patrons on the floors to see trees while reading. In addition, on the top of the building, a huge New Bay Garden provides a beautiful view towards the Harbor Kaohsiung, the largest harbor in Taiwan. The new main library is indeed a green structure in which “the library and the trees come together as one.”

In order to create the spatial penetration of the ground floor and achieve the column-less structure of the first floor, box steel columns, tubular columns, buckling restrained braces (BRB) and other structural components are used as support columns. These support columns are integrated with the eighth floor truss level to comprise a three-dimensional “large-scale frame”, thus forming the principal structural system of the library’s construction. The building possesses four elevators and two escalators with modern design, which adopts the “suspension method” and utilizes steel tension of the most economical design principles. Suspended steel rods of 6 to 12 centimeters in diameter were adopted in place of traditional structural column sections (90 centimeters X 90 centimeters for a vertical structural column section). This downward construction method is completely different from the upward one of common architectural structures. The suspension method employed in the structure of the library makes the columns of the ground floor gone like magic and endows the interior space with the visual permeability as well.

In addition to the building, another distinctive feature of the new main library is that the accomplishment of the library stands on the cooperation between the Kaohsiung City Government and citizens. For the structure, the construction and NT$1.9 billion funding are covered by the Kaohsiung City Government. For the collection, the Kaohsiung City Cultural Foundation particularly initiated a donation plan called “One Million Books by Donation; Love and Wisdom Passed on for Generations” for making the new main library, the first municipal library built by the city in the last twenty years in Taiwan, house a collection of one million books. Through the project, the donations from various walks of life reached NT$500 million, actually having been increasing, and the goal of one-million-book collection was achieved. To express the library’s appreciation of the donors, the flyleaves of books are with sponsors’ names on them and some floors are named after the entrepreneurs desiring to make contribution to the society. The most significant meaning of the donation manifested through the completion of the library is that no matter whom you are, a rich industrialist, an ordinary salaryman, or a vendor, you have the power to make the city and world different and better. With the constant support and passion of the citizens, which are deeply appreciated, the library will grow steadily and everlastingly with the knowledge and power shown in itself.

In the collection and among the bookshelves, one of the distinguishing characteristics  of the new main public library－“Key Publication Showcase” displayed elegantly. The key publication showcases, located on the fourth to seventh floors, exhibit more than five hundred classic books from different eras and fields which are all carefully and rigidly selected. These books are collected from various publishers, used bookstores and the data preservation center of National Central Library. They are also obtained from the ancient relic collectors as well as the community. As time goes by, these monographs become much rarer and more precious. Through the exhibition, people can take a look at the key publications, appreciate these crucial classics in publishing history, and understand the meaning and influence of knowledge to human beings. Each book of key publications tells a timeless story, which brings library patrons to the magnificent worlds of different times.

Video and also

Awards

1. First place of “2015 The 10 Libraries You Must Visit in Taiwan” list selected via online voting conducted by the Library Association of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (2015)
2. Gold Award in the 1st Gold Medal Award for Quality in Kaohsiung City New Architectural Construction (2014)
3. First prize in the planning and design category of the 20th Chinese Golden Stone Award for Architecture (2012)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Taipei City Library, Taiwan

Exterior of Library

Name of the Library: New Taipei City Library
Parent Organisation: New Taipei City Government

Street Address: No. 139, Guixing Rd., Banqiao Dist., New Taipei City, Taiwan
Postal Address: 22060
Telephone : (886)2-29537868
Web Address: http://www.library.ntpc.gov.tw/
Library Email : cad2170001@ntpc.gov.tw
Type of Library : Central/ Main Library
Population served: 3,960,000
Project Type: New Building
Size (square metres): 6,137M2
Date of Completion:10/5/2015
Architect: J.C. Yang Architect and Associates

Young people’s area

Description
Designed as a big shelf with lots of books stacking together, New Taipei City Library Headquarters provides traditional library services and new technologies at the same time, and it’s also a diamond grade green building. Pioneering in serving 24 hours a day, the library is not only the new cultural landmark of New Taipei City, but also opens the new page in library serves. With the concept of “being considerate of all users,” the library is built under the principles of Universal Design. The library provides diverse reading spaces based on the needs of different kinds of readers, so that all the patrons can read in a friendly and comfortable environment, which makes them feel like reading at home.

Reading corner

1. Services
   24 hour opening
   The library opens 24 hours a day, and the services won’t stop. The opening hour of New Taipei City Library Headquarters is the longest one among all the public libraries in Taiwan. The Self-checkout system at the 1st floor and the study room at the 4th floor are open 24 hours.The windows of the world—reading in the exotic atmosphere
   From the 5th floor to the 8th floor we prepare the reading corners decorated with exotic themes, such as Japanese Zen style, Bali style, Northern European style, Mediterranean style, and others. Through these windows, the library can extend to the world. Readers are encouraged to read without electronic devices and enjoy the happiness of reading.Pioneering in Universal Design, Reader-friendly library
   To meet the needs of different kinds of readers, the library is designed under the principle of Universal Design. Disabled readers, senior citizens and readers with special needs can read in a comfortable and convenient environment.Ready holds self-checkout services works 24/7
   The first 24-hour self-checkout system in Asia is now equipped in the library. With this system, readers can pick up books that they have placed holds on with their library cards on their own.

   Conserving the most amounts of periodicals in the public libraries in Taiwan
   We provide over 1,100 kinds of periodicals in different languages, thus to serve our patrons with the lasted information.
   A diamond- grade green building, an environment-protecting library.
   Constructed based on the 9 Indicators of green buildings, the library is a environmentally responsible architecture that built up with materials efficiency and wasted as little as possible.

2. Opening Hours
   Monday to Sunday: the 1st floor and the 4th floor are open 24 hours a day; other floors are open from 8:30 to 21:00.
   The library is closed on national holidays and the last Thursday every month. The day before closure is closed at 21:00, and the day after closure is open at 8:30.
3. Floor Plan
   B1-B3 Parking Garage
   1.Circulation Service、24 Hours Self-Checkout、24 Hours Self-Return、New Arrival、New Taipei City Gallery、Braille Materials Room、Multifunctional Area、Coffee Shop
   2.Periodicals & Newspapers、Bound Periodicals、Senior Citizens’ Resources
   3.Young Reader’s Area、Young Reader’s Storytelling Zone、Auditorium、Family Reading Area、Breastfeeding Room
   4. Study Room、Comics & Manga、New Taipei City District Resource Center、Sun Room
   5. Multimedia Area、Information Commons、Group Multimedia Area、Multimedia Classroom、Classroom、Audiovisual Room、Multifunction Room、Reading Corner（Northern European style）
   6. 800-999 Stacks、Reading Corner（British style, South French Cottage style, Bali style）
   7. 400-799 Stacks、Discussion Room、Reading Corner（Mediterranean style）
   8. 000-399 Stacks、Government Publications、Simplified Chinese Collection、Reading Corner（American style, Japanese Zen style）
   9. Reference、Western Publications and Multicultural Collection、Local Collection、Conference Room
   10. Administration office

 

Video and Facebook

Awards

•   2015 10 Libraries you must to visit in Taiwan
•   Building Corban Footage Certificated BCFd Diamond Grade
  FIABCI-Taiwan Real Estate Excellence Award/ Planning & Design Excellence Award / Golden Quality Award
•   Certificated Universal Design Library for the Public
  2015 IT Month Top 100 Innovative Products / Public Services Award
• The Friendly Building Of Ministry Of The Interior .Republic Of China (Taiwan)
•  The Healthy City And Age-Friendly City Innovation Results Award And Facilitating Healthy Award
•  Taiwan’s top ten comfort building

National Library of Public Information, Taiwan

The view of National Library of Public Information

Name of the Library: National Library of Public Information
Parent Organisation: Ministry of Education

Street Address: No.100, Wuquan S. Rd., South Dist., Taichung City, Taiwan.
Postal Address: 40246
Telephone :+886-4-22625100
Web Address: http://www.nlpi.edu.tw
Library Email: suggest@nlpi.edu.tw

Type of Library: Central/ Main Library
Population served: 23,000,000
Project Type: New Building
Size (square metres): 41,797
Date of Completion: 16/5/2012
Architect: J.J.Pan and Partners, Architects and Planners

Description
The National Library of Public Information was established on 1923, and it has been relocated and renamed three times. The main purpose of the library is to serve everyone, and the library provides a diverse service to suit all age group’s need. The library now embraces the digital era, combines virtual and physical spaces and resources, and provides service with an innovated way. The library moved to the new building on 3rd of June 2012, and changes the name on the 1st of January to 「The National Library of Public Information」. The NLPI is now a national library that can be enjoyed by the public on both physical and virtual environment. They can read, discover, relax, and achieve lifelong learning under the care of NLPI.

The genesis of the design is the decision to directly confront the challenges and opportunities presented by the dynamic nature of digital media. Inspirations for the massing concept include the Mobius strip and Klein bottle, both of which explore solid and void, form and formless.

In the interior, each floor’s spatial arrangement, color and furniture design takes its cue from the corresponding outside view – event, trunk, crown, the city skyline, and cloud. The result is clear differentiation of the various program areas while the building’s abundant glazing fosters an outside-in effect.

1F Digital Lobby: Designed as a space to feature the flow of information, the use of orange-red color symbolizes the energy of the crowd with the information desk as the focus.
The children learning area employs a forest and animal theme with colorful elements such as bookshelves that recall hedges to create a spatial experience.
2F Multimedia: Vertical wood arches and light pillar echo the tree trunks outside the windows
3F Periodicals: The tree crowns are transformed into bookshelves and furniture for reading, creating an atmosphere of being in the treetop.
4F Science and Technology: Taking its cue from the urban skyline, the bookshelves are staggered in height and feature brightly painted, lighting integrated display frames that evoke city lights through windows.
5F Humanities: The cloud-like curved white furniture echoes the blue sky above and is enhanced by the natural light filtered through the round skylights.

The Children’s Library

The building’s free-formed skin with its curved planes and organic tree trunk-shaped columns tested the limits of design and construction in Taiwan. Starting with the structural slanted columns and slab edges, then a series of zigzagging curtain wall sub-frames that approximates the final undulating surface, the skin’s design was conceived from the inside-out. Finally, a composite wall system with integrated EPS insulation that molds to the folding surfaces, which are then cladded with pearl-white round mosaic tiles of eight different sizes enabling the skin to achieve a monocoque appearance. Throughout the process, advanced 3D design software and several on-site mock-ups were utilized.

Specific examples of sustainable features include the curved exterior light-weight composite wall system with integrated insulation. The skylight and inclining windows in the reading area introduce natural light into the reading area effectively. The underground public reading room and the recessed volumes of the ground floor facilitate natural air convection.

The Innovated Facilities include Digital Experience Areas, Digital Leisure Center, Multi-Cultural Services, augmented reality（AR）for children reading, lucky books interactive passageway, interactive story room, RFID automatic book sorting system and colored book labels,  book-carrying robot – Bopi, Smart Book Shelf Window ,etc.
In Incorporating eReading@your library Program with e-Book Online Service, and Digital Resource Promotion Service, NLPI has been cooperating with different sectors/fields to help citizens in 24 remote and disadvantaged villages/towns to free use of technology and the Internet to engage in e-reading and life-long learning and the achievement of the project has been identified and highly appreciated. As a result, NLPI is planning to replicate the service mode of the project and expand the services to sustain this service in the future.

Reference:
http://ereading.nlpi.edu.tw/index.php/en/about
http://www.jjpan.com/selected/01_TaiChungLibrary_en.htm
http://www.nlpi.edu.tw/english/About/about01.htm

 

Awards, case studies, further information
1. Excellence in World Association of Chinese Architects Academic Award (2013)
2. Gold Award, The International Design Awards for Architecture (2012)
3. Innovative Design of the Year, The 10th Golden Torch Awards (2012)