Learning Space Design and Borges The Library of Babel

A few weeks ago I was meeting with friends and the topic of learning space design, specifically designing learning spaces at libraries, came up.  I joked that we should design learning spaces at the BYU library based on Borges The Library of Babel.  Though it was a joke, I discovered some fun websites about it here, here and here.  We are unlikely to incorporate the design elements of The Library of Babel at BYU, even though the word Babel or Babylon means “gate of the gods.”  (Bab = gate,  -il (el/il) = god, and -yon/-on indicates a plural).  That is, Babel or Babylon was a temple city where people would go to ascend the temples to be instructed by the gods and be symbolically close to the gods.