Libraries

Library lighting usually does not pose particular photometric requirements. VDU stations should be treated like individual VDU workstations regarding avoiding disturbing reflections (see chapter "Lighting of offices and rooms with VDU workstations"). Particular attention must be paid to lighting vertical cabinet and shelf areas, since they usually feature more complex visual tasks than those defined for corresponding areas in offices.

In libraries, utmost concentration is required. Any distraction can be a disturbance – even the mechanisms of ventilation or air conditioning systems and also lighting. LED luminaires just as fluorescent-lamp luminaires with electronic control gear are effective at eliminating such distractions (see also chapter "Acoustic characteristics").

Plastic luminaires sometimes exhibit so-called "diffuser clicking" upon activation, which is due to different heat expansion behaviours in plastic and metal. Soon after switching them on, thermal stability is achieved in the luminaire and the clicking noises cease.