Abstract
This study examines the spatial compositions of children's reading rooms, furniture characteristics, and users' satisfaction levels for the furniture in public libraries. Field measurements and surveys were performed in 5 public libraries. Results imply that the spatial compositions of reading rooms in libraries were classified into three categories according to the locations of bookshelves and reading space. Management areas should not be located at the edge of reading rooms but be located at the center of reading rooms to avoid clerks' narrow viewing angle toward young kids and to ensure security for the kids. The evaluation for bookshelves according to evaluation checklists was acceptable, but users were not always satisfied with the bookshelves due to the inappropriate positions of books in shelves. The evaluation for desks was generally acceptable according to the checklists and users were satisfied with them. In general, the desk with higher scores by the checklist provided better satisfaction to users. However, the score by checklist for chair and user satisfaction were not always similar each other. Convenience areas in reading rooms were not enough compared to bookshelf, reading and management area. Computer tables that were designed in a way that users sit down and use the computers were highly preferred.
