Since I was a child, I have been drawn to libraries. Besides the books, an obvious perk, they offer stacks and niches in which to hide yourself away. In the past, they also had lots of furniture with clever compartments: card catalogues with index card-sized drawers and flat cabinets with thin, map-sized drawers. And, of course, carrels always provided an ideal hideaway.

Antrim Carrel. Manufactured by Agati.

Contemporary Library Carrels

For the contemporary library, however, the old, dark wood carrels just won’t do. Those staid pieces of furniture recall bygone days when unescorted women weren’t allowed in libraries. Today’s libraries need a sleek, modern touch such as the Antrim Carrel by Agati. With its floating work surface and knife-edge profile, Antrim brings the carrel into the new millennium.

The Antrim Carrel is available in different wood finishes, and the privacy screen comes in wood or glass. Optional power and data units are available, in keeping with libraries’ technology needs. An inset Marmoleum top will help keep the carrel in good shape for a long time, as well as the carrel’s powder-coated metal base. The carrel comes as a single or double unit; it’s also available as a back-to-back model. All those choices give libraries multiple options for how they arrange their study spaces (although, truth be told, I like the single carrel, so I can get lost in my own little niche).

About the Manufacturer: Agati designs and manufactures furniture for the education, hospitality, healthcare, and corporate markets. Their library division, launched in the 1980s with the completion of the Vespasian Public Library project in Clinton, Illinois, is well known in the industry for its quality and aesthetics. “Both timeless and universal,” Agati furniture blends sound engineering with eclectic style.