All respondents' libraries housed their technical services in an open plan office environment where many employees occupied
a single room, often separated by cubicles, with only a few employees working in enclosed private offices. As shown in the survey,
most of the enclosed private offices in technical services were devoted to managers; it was very rare for a non-managerial staff to
have an enclosed private office. In contrast to reality, it was the wish of most respondents to have enclosed private offices. The
arguments for enclosed private offices by respondents revolved mostly around the necessity for privacy (due to private evaluation
of staff and private communication with supervisors, staff and vendors) and the necessity for noise control and distraction control
(due to focus work). However, due to the high costs of enclosed private offices and the lack of space to build them, it is unrealistic
to expect libraries to provide private enclosed offices for every employee in technical services. It is likely that most libraries
considering private enclosed offices have to do a cost–benefit analysis to justify the extra costs. The assumption that enclosed
private offices provide more privacy and noise control than cubicles is not always true. “Within an open plan environment, the
types of workspace partitions used may have an effect on communication and privacy. Dry wall offices, even with the door closed,
only achieve 75% acoustical privacy compared to 8 ft x 8 ft open plan offices (with 60-inch high acoustical panels, acoustical
ceiling tiles and sound masking) which achieve 93% acoustical privacy” (Knoll, 2008). Further studies are needed for these
questions: Are private enclosed offices for non-managerial staff in technical services worth the substantial extra costs? How to
best support focus work, communication, collaboration and productivity in an open office environment in technical services?