Swarthmore College Library Collection Management & Discovery Office Suite – Workflows Analysis, Workshop & Design – Swarthmore, PA

Sorensen Partners worked with Swarthmore College to relocate the library technical services offices at McCabe Library to a new space within the library that efficiently meets the department’s present workflow needs. Sorensen Partners conducted an on-site analysis and programming study in conjunction with the College Librarian and relevant members of library and university administration and Technical Services staff.  Our work included one-on-one ethnographic interviews with staff using custom questions and mapping exercises developed by Sorensen Partners for Swarthmore – and an interactive staff workshop.

We presented initial findings from the staff workflow research and workshop and worked collaboratively with library leadership and College project managment staff to create a schematic-level space plan for the new office suite.

The new Collection Management and Discovery office suite is reduced in size from 2,623 to 1,120 square feet (a 58% reduction in space use) plus two spaces shared with students: a conference room (120 sf) and a single-occupancy workroom (40 sf).

The schematic design plan created by Sorensen Partners was finalized, detailed and built under the direction of a local architect-of-record.