“I was here when the Architecture Library was being built,” recalled Kay Bea Jones, Professor in the Knowlton School of Architecture. “It’s so useful for our students, not only as a great place to go, but as a teaching site.”
Jones is now the longest serving faculty member at the Knowlton School of Architecture. Throughout her 38 years at Ohio State, Jones has seen the Architecture Library in all its stages, from conceptualization to construction and its current state.
Sitting at the top of the ramp parading up the Knowlton building’s stories, the Architecture Library is an inviting space housing materials on urbanism, architectural styles, landscape architecture, history and graphic design.
“I think we forget one of the things about sitting down in a quiet, beautiful, well-lit space with a book, perhaps reclining in a chaise lounge, is that the pace of study is slowed down,” said Jones. “You study differently when you read a book. It’s so important for the students to continue to use books. The internet doesn’t have everything we need.”
Jones has always been an advocate for the Architecture Library, assigning students work requiring the library’s use every semester. One project even allowed her students to contribute to the space.
“You may be aware of the glass bookshelves in the Architecture Library; the artifact that’s sitting by the glass wall on the ramp. It’s a ‘V’ shaped structure called a veliero,” she said. “My students built that when we were doing work on the Italian architect Franco Albini. It was quite a fun experience, because they had to basically figure it all out from photographs. Albini’s son came to a conference we had and he saw the artifact that the students built. He was very impressed. That’s my favorite part of the library.”
According to Jones, having materials students can use in such close proximity to their classes is extremely valuable.
“Other students have to travel a distance across campus to be able to access resources. We are really lucky to have that material right here in the building,” stated Jones.
Recently, Jones discovered an interesting item in the library that related to a seminar she was teaching.
“I discovered that the George Acock watercolor on the wall of the Architecture Library has a portrait of Herbert Baumer looking out on the second-story windows,” she said. “Baumer was the contributor that led to our Baumer fund that supports all of our lectures and our annual Baumer fellow. It’s so cool to have the watercolor and make that discovery.”
As an architect, Jones’ interest in libraries extends beyond the resources they offer and into their design and construction.
“I think one of the great things about library as a typology, it’s something that’s been around historically since Alexandria Egypt. The resource that is the library is constantly changing,” she said. “Other colleagues and I have taught design studio projects about libraries of the future. The idea of a library is always in flux and is something that we continue to think about.”
As an influential woman in a traditionally male-dominated field, Jones hopes to encourage other women to pursue careers in architecture.
“Architecture, all the design fields, are such great places for creative people and so many of the women students I’ve had have demonstrated such capabilities and creativity,” she said. “Network, work with each other, form communities and hold onto those communities because they are going to help you.”
Jones concluded, “I’ve relied heavily on librarians for the books that I’ve published and the research I’ve done. My work has been very much impacted by the support of librarians, and I really appreciate that.”