Building evaluation in New Zealand libraries

Abstract

Building evaluation is the means by which, and the act by which, a building is assessed to ascertain how well it performs in order to meet defined requirements. A library building is one of the means by which a library delivers its products and services, and so along with other factors, library buildings too must be evaluated for maximum performance to meet all stakeholders needs. The purpose of this study was to establish what processes are involved in the evaluation of New Zealand library buildings, what resources are used in the evaluation of New Zealand library buildings and how these relate to the library literature. The results of the study indicated that New Zealand library building evaluation does follow that found in the library literature with applied rather than theoretical functions. Also, improvement in some aspects of evaluation would contribute to the effectiveness of library building evaluation and hence the effectiveness of library buildings in delivering the best quality products and services.