Abstract
Modern society is heading towards a knowledge & information based society where knowledge and information is valued, or a knowledge creation society where information is analyzed and processed to be used as knowledge. This means that not only individuals but also every organization is always surrounded by information and that we are witnessing a transition into a society where the value of knowledge and information is increasingly higher so sometimes we must actively explore and use the information across the whole social structure involved with politics, economy and culture. Recently, while the amount of information at public libraries at home and abroad has greatly increased in volume and the kinds have become diverse, efforts for digitalizing and integrating knowledge & information resources are being pursued aggressively. A new paradigm of facilities and space configuration for public libraries is required so that along with traditional library service there will exist integrated links and exchange of digital information resources and all users will be able to equally access that information. Therefore, assuming that human, information and space are important design factors as to space planning for public libraries, this study compared characteristics of the space structure and the form of exchange of knowledge & information through examples involved with public libraries having opened in the past three to four years from perspectives of space sociology and communication. This is a basic study to provide organized design guidelines about the form of exchange of creative knowledge & information from various perspectives in the knowledge & information age. Also this study is considered to have a significance in activating communication with users through exchange, creation and experience of knowledge & information, which is a social role that modern public libraries support.