Michael Libby wrote: > As a weekly user of the central library I am, so far, very disappointed in > the interim location. I know it's been only open a week, but it didn't > even have any carpeting!
Mike Nelson's response: Sorry to hear of your disappointment with the interim site, but there is just as much if not more carpeting at this site than in the old library. The only areas that had any carpet in the old place were part of the childrens dept., part of the art/music dept, and administrative offices. In the interim site (or Central Library Marquette, the official name for it) the entire childrens dept. is carpeted, the entire "popular library" area, which had no carpet in the old library, and the administrative office area on the fourth floor. Carpet is nice as it helps deaden a room acoustically, but beyond that I fail to see any real benefit from it being installed in a temporary space. The library is facing serious budget cuts, and this may be a good place to save money. Which is more valuable to the public, a temporary carpet? or a librarian? Or a janitorial worker to clean the carpet so the children won't get sick from crawling around on it? Remember, if it's for the children it's sacred ;) ML: >When there is no solid plan for getting a new > facility built, any interim solution should be as permanent-quality as > possible, and this certainly includes finishing the floor. Hopefully signs > and other helpful amenities will improve in the near future as well. MN: The interim site is still being put together. the moving company is working night and day (literally) to get everything out of the old building moved to the interim site and into storage at other sites. The interim site is just that. Temporary. It isn't supposed to be "permanent quality." The library we just moved out of wasn't "permanent quality". The library at 10th & Hennepin was Permanent Quality! Permanent quality in terms of cosmetics is a waste of time and tax dollars. Permanent quality in terms of service is, to the extent possible under the circumstances, the library's goal. Signs and other helpful amenities are being improved daily. A project of this magnitude will never go as smoothly as some people would like, and for some people it just wouldn't be right if there wasn't something wrong. If anyone has any specific suggestions for the library, I would recommend visiting their website and linking to the suggestions page at www.mpls.lib.org. ML: > I'll be very disappointed if the rest of my daughter's childhood memories > of the library are of some slipshod "interim" library. At least the > children's section is carpeted, and rather presentable. Maybe having gone > there a few weeks prior to 3rd floor being open unfairly raised my > expectations. MN: Slipshod ?! The word slipshod suggests carelessness and negligence. The only evidence of this I have seen is in the deplorable working conditions imposed on some of the employees that the public doesn't see, a subject I won't get into right now. Please keep in mind the fact that this place is temporary, and most of the people involved have never had to move a library of this size. They are doing their best, and most are anything but careless or negligent. Things could be worse. In St. Paul, everyone, including the children, was just S.O.L. while they renovated their central library. They saved a LOT of money by not having an interim site. ML: > I guess I should be glad at the delay, because I'm not thrilled with the > design myself. But depending on how radical the changes to the proposed > design are this could take a while... and what do you want to bet more > rounds of designs cost money? MN: Money that we could spend on a temporary rug? Mike Nelson Central Neighborhood MPLS Central Library Employee _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
