Departmental Space Inventory Survey
Room Type Codes & Definitions

Postsecondary Education Facilities Inventory and Classification Manual Modified for University of Michigan Use

Table of Contents - 400 Study Facilities:

	410 Study Room
	420 Stack
	430 Open-Stack Study Room
	440 Processing Room
	455 Study Service

ASSIGNABLE AREA

400 - Study Facilities

410 Study Room

Definition: A room or area used by individuals to study at their convenience, which is not restricted to a particular subject or discipline by contained equipment.

Description: Includes study or reading rooms located in libraries, residential facilities, academic or student service facilities, study carrel and booth areas, and similar rooms which are intended for general study purposes. Study stations may be grouped, as in a library reading room, or individualized, as in a carrel. Study stations may include microcomputers, typewriters, computer terminals, microfilm readers, or other multimedia equipment. The category Study Room includes rooms commonly termed "learning labs" or "computer labs" if they are not restricted to specific disciplines by contained equipment or software. Study rooms are primarily used by students or staff for learning at their convenience, although access may be restricted by a controlling unit (e.g., departmental study room).

Limitations: Does not include Open Laboratories (220) that are restricted to a particular discipline or discipline group. This category also does not include Lounges (650) that are intended for relaxation and casual interaction.

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420 Stack

Definition: A room used to house arranged collections of educational materials for use as a study resource.

Description: Stacks typically appear in central, branch, or departmental libraries and are characterized by accessible, arranged, and managed collections. Collections can include books, periodicals, journals, monographs, micro-materials, electronic storage media (e.g., tapes, disks, slides, etc.), musical scores, maps, and other educational materials.

Limitations: Does not include general storage areas for such materials that serve a particular room or area; such rooms would take the appropriate service code. Examples of these service rooms include tape storage rooms for language laboratories (see 225), book storage rooms for classrooms (see 115), music for general listening enjoyment (see 675). Also does not include collections of educational materials, regardless of form or type (i.e., from books to soils collections), which are for exhibition use as opposed to a study resource (see 620).

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430 Open-Stack Study Room

Definition: A combination study room and stack, generally without physical boundaries between the stack and study areas.

Description: Seating areas include those types of station and seating arrangements described under Study Room (410). The stack areas of these rooms may include any of the educational material collections described under Stack (420).

Limitations: Does not include Study Rooms (410) which have no stack areas. Those stack areas that have only a few incidental chairs or other seating, without a formally arranged study seating area, should be coded Stack (420). Institutions may wish to separate and code the seating or study areas (see 410) and stack areas (see 420) into separate room records. As with Stack (420) and Processing Rooms (440), Open-Stack Study Rooms (430) appear primarily in central, branch, and departmental libraries.

 

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440 Processing Room

Definition: A room or area devoted to processes and operations in support of library functions.

Description: A processing room is intended for specific library operations which support the overall library mission. Included are card, microfiche, and on-line catalog areas; reference desk and circulation desk areas; bookbinding rooms; on-line search rooms; multimedia materials processing areas; interlibrary loan processing areas; and other areas with a specific process or operation in support of library functions.

Limitations: Areas which serve both as office stations and processing rooms should be coded according to primary use. Small incidental processing areas in larger stack or study areas should be included within the larger primary activity category (see 410, 420, 430). Does not include typical support rooms that serve study and other primary activity areas, such as storage rooms, copy rooms, closets, and other service-type rooms (see 455). Acquisitions work areas with a primary office use should be classified as Office (310).

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455 Study Service

Definition: A room that directly serves study rooms, stacks, open-stack study rooms, or processing rooms as a direct extension of the activities in those rooms.

Description: Includes storage rooms, copy rooms, closets, locker rooms, coat rooms, and other typical service areas that support a primary study facilities room (see 410, 420, 430, 440).

Limitations: Does not include Processing Rooms (440) that house specific library support processes and operations (e.g., bookbinding rooms, multimedia processing rooms).

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