>>>>> "GL" == Gregory Luce <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
GL> In the middle of this discussion, I happened to pick up an
GL> excellent feature article in The Rake about public libraries
GL> in general and local libraries specifically, with discussion
GL> about the Minneapolis Central Library:
GL> http://www.rakemag.com/features/detail.asp?catID=61&itemID=20442
>> From the article:
GL> "It makes sense, then, that Minneapolis' main library should
GL> be widely cherished, that it should be the loveliest and most
GL> generously funded in Minnesota. Indeed, the new building going
GL> up on Hennepin Avenue has raised eyebrows because, to some,
GL> the expenditure feels extravagant, what with recent budget
GL> tightening and, especially, reduced operating hours at many
GL> library branches. The central library itself typically
GL> operates just seven hours per day and is closed on Sundays;
GL> considering Minneapolis' across-the-board financial troubles,
GL> there is no telling how often the new building will be open. A
GL> frugal person might wonder: Why not just leave the main branch
GL> in the Federal Reserve Bank, or retrofit some other existing
GL> structure, maybe in the warehouse district? After all,
GL> St. Paul makes do with a building that's almost a century
GL> old. (The city just spent $15.9 million to renovate it.)
GL> The answer to that query is this: In 2000, the citizens of
GL> Minneapolis voted to build a new library. Now well under way,
GL> the structure is largely funded by a $140 million city
GL> referendum that passed by a two-to-one margin. Times were
GL> still flush back then, and the state was footing a significant
GL> portion of the system's operating budget. So generous,
GL> educated, liberal Minneapolis specified that the referendum
GL> money could only be spent on a showpiece central library, and
GL> to improve various community branches, such as the north
GL> side's newly renovated Sumner Library. If people want to gripe
GL> about poor decision-making, they should point the finger at
GL> the geniuses who moved the main library out of its original
GL> location on Tenth and Hennepin, a castle-like structure that
GL> strongly resembled the Lumber Exchange Building. They plunked
GL> it down in a 1960s-era box that was difficult to expand or
GL> update and constructed in such a way as to hold together for
GL> only forty years."
OK, I'm not sure of my facts here, but here's a reason why the move
out of the old library building into the square one might not have
been so stupid, and why it's unlikely we can just stay in the new
temporary space.
Libraries are HEAVY. It is very difficult to build a library that can
hold a lot of books. I remember being in Providence, RI and hearing
how difficult it was for Brown University to keep its Science Library
standing because its collection was getting too heavy for its
foundation.
I am a big supporter of keeping old buildings, and I regret the losses
of historic buildings that downtown has suffered. But in general it's
simply not possible to take over a normal building and make it into
your central library. Yes, the central branch is functioning in
temporary space, but it's NOT functioning well, and a large chunk of
the collection is locked up in deep storage and unreachable. I have
repeatedly looked up things in the catalog and found that they were
"unavailable until 2006."
Library buildings, at least for institutions with large collections,
are very specialized, and you just can't take any old building and put
a huge collection of books in them. Books are dense in a way that
office workers are not.
So that would be `A frugal person *who hasn't thought very hard about
the problem* might wonder: why not just leave the main branch in the
Federal Reserve Bank, or retrofit some other existing structure, maybe
in the warehouse district?'
The answer may well be that you can't retrofit without digging
yourself a new foundation.
--
Robert P. Goldman
ECCO
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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