The physical office environment in technical services in ARL libraries

•The situation of the current physical office environment in technical services.•The satisfaction level towards physical office environment in technical services.•The impact of physical office environment on staff and work in technical services.•The impact of survey findings on the planning and designing of technical services.

In 2012, the authors conducted a survey on the satisfaction level of librarians and staff in technical services in ARL libraries towards their physical office environment and their perceptions on whether physical office environment had an impact on their job satisfaction, privacy, productivity, communication and collaboration. The authors analyzed the survey results and answered three research questions. This paper will provide some understanding about the physical office environment in library technical services and the survey results will be useful for both architects and library administrators when planning and designing physical office environment in library technical services.