As with other aspects of project management, space planning involves taking decisions within a finite timescale and within the resources available. Space needs should be forecast and meet a future need, based on the library's projected collection and service aims. Space planning is an important part of library design and will contribute to the success of the library in terms of efficiency.

Access should be as clear and straightforward as possible, with a selfevident layout facilitating independent discovery and study for users. They should not have to understand how the library is structured in order to make use of its services.

When designing a new library, the architect is challenged to bring the sometimes conflicting needs of library and non-library functions into a coherent whole. Typical services provided within a public or academic library might include:

The terms ‘relationships’ and ‘adjacencies’ are sometimes used to describe how different areas of a building or space relate to each other. The relationships within a particular library are determined by studying the library's philosophy of service, its use of materials and services and its policies and procedures. Appropriate planning of adjacencies will be critical to the functioning of the library, though these may change in time.

Libraries are service organizations and it is important to consider how they will be used by both users and staff. Planning teams need to consider both relationships and the movement of people and materials through the library during the design process. To operate efficiently, the library must be planned so that there is minimum interference with main routes through the building for both users and materials. Architects need to resolve these relationships through design.