What is a restorative environment?
Who is this for, and what will we do?
The Library Workers’ Field Guide to Designing and Discovering Restorative Environments is a guidebook and set of activity cards that have two aims: (1) to recognize environments that deplete and restore us and (2) develop our design skills so that we can better protect and restore our attention in libraries.
It was created through Beck Tench’s doctoral dissertation research. It is built upon curricula she used to teach undergraduates how to design and discover restorative environments on the University of Washington’s Seattle campus. Research of those classroom experiences revealed that students found the work of designing restorative environments personally restorative. It helped them see their campus with new eyes, connect with each other, be more self-aware, notice the world around them, and, in some cases, use technology differently.
Beck interviewed library workers and ran focus groups and workshops to co-create the field guide and activities featured on this website. The design process outlined here is the same process used to create this guide. That is to say, is in constant revision, as will be everything that you’ll make with it.
