To help plan for the building or renovating of a media center, this paper presents a list of questions that the steering committee and the architect or project leader needs to answer. It opens with some general rules for planning, such as using a steering committee composed of stakeholders, involving the architect as soon as possible, not designing for nonexistent technology, using older, familiar technologies such as television, CD-ROM, and the Internet, and learning how to read blueprints. Some of the questions for the planning committee include asking how the new facility will be used, near what areas of the school the media center should be located, how the center will be staffed, and whether the computer labs should have a lecture or lab type design. The architect must be asked if the media center allows for different kinds of student use, if the design eliminates any areas which cannot be seen from a single location, whether new technologies are being accommodated, if the lighting is adequate, if security will be in place, if all areas and resources are accessible by the physically challenged, if the furniture is of high quality, and what manner of atmosphere he or she is trying to create. Some lessons learned the hard way are also provided. (RJM)