Williamsburg Regional Library

The Issue

The Williamsburg Regional Library contacted Acoustical Solutions because they needed to reduce the noise levels in their children’s area. When the children were in this area you could hear the voices echoing through the library. The noise was reverberating off all the hard surfaces in many areas of the library. It became unbearable so we needed to come up with a solution to improve speech intelligibility and reduce the overall noise.

About the Client

Founded in 1909 in the front hall of the historic Saint George Tucker House with 50 volumes, the Williamsburg Regional Library grew and relocated many times. It began serving James City County residents in 1926. The library moved to its present location in 1973 with about 12,000 volumes and was first expanded there in 1981. The Williamsburg Regional Library was created by a contract between the City of Williamsburg and James City County as an independent agency in 1977.

The Challenge

The primary challenge in this space was the children’s area and the doors in the space. The entire space had hard surfaces. This is an open space and the voices of the children echoed throughout the library. We had to dampen the sound in this area because it was difficult for the other patrons to focus.

The Solution

The Result

The results were fantastic and super-effective. After adding materials to this area, it knocked down the reverb time. The library was ecstatic over how the room improved.