Libraries – how companies do not understand open spaces

The library had three floors and the rule was the higher the floor, the more you must absolutely uphold the "stay quiet" rule, and the design choices really spoke to this. The first floor (noise = okay) had open work areas; tables without barriers and multiple sockets, no walls between computers, vending machines, couches and other places situated for casual conversation/collaboration.

The second floor still had some open tables, but virtually every work space had some form of enclosure to it. There were also considerably more book shelves that guarded off each work space so it naturally lent itself to having barriers and privacy, and this led to quietness.

Third floor was the most densely packed book floor and the only working spaces were private enclosed ones, and there were far more of these alcoves that were basically a desk + socket for your electronics + lamp. Even the main lighting on the upper floors was different to give a calmer feel.

This worked extremely well as even first years and visitors just implicitly understood from the design that you could have a nice conversation on the first floor (shouting and screaming of course was still stopped, and no music without headphones (and even people who had headphones that leaked noise were held accountable pretty strictly)), but it seemed that the way the workspaces on the other floors were designed led to this quite nicely. The books of course helped asa natural barrier for the 2nd and 3rd floors to intercept other noises without incident.

My current work place, my team has an open floor plan due to a new temporary building and they're still feeling it out. Luckily the team has mostly understood that this is a new situation and they need to be respectful of the fact that they're in a shared space, but as the teams get more comfortable with the building, this is eroding a bit. I can't help but think that the same visual cueing would help a lot to give the impression of "this place is okay for an open conversation, this place is for people who need to focus."

> Perhaps part of the problem is in an open _public_ space like a library, the only person with authority is the librarian. In a company, that person is going to be a mid-level manager at best - what happens when a more senior manager decides they are going to break those rules?

The sad answer is that this sort of position needs a dedicated well-being manager or office manager to guide such items. It can't be a dual role with the primary work, it must be someone whose goal is to ensure the workplace is representing the needs of all employees, and then guiding people to where they can have such conversations and enforcing the zoning. My company has a well-being manager and she takes the job quite seriously in that she is always looking to get feedback on what people need while still enforcing the policies that are created to ensure a healthy work environment.

Never having worked in a cubicle, I wonder: don't those dividers actually help a bit with noise? Sure, I don't expect them to be individual-office level quiet, but still better than fully open.

I used to work in a building where one "open-office" had dividers mounted on the desks, reaching about the screen height, with carpeted floors and some kind of sound absorbing panels on the ceilings. It was extremely quiet compared to the other "regular" offices that only had the carpets.

For the record I do not like going to the office because of the above mentioned reasons. Furthermore, my home office has better equipment. My wife on the contrary loves going to the office although she could work from home.

Does she go to the office for the actual work? Or because she is social?

Personally, I'd find a workplace with a library area great. But I wouldn't want or prescribe a workplace that is entirely a library.