Ray Marshall wrote:
Craig Cox's Minneapolis Observer is reporting ...
CITY'S BUSIEST NEIGHBORHOOD LIBRARY WILL CLOSE FOR RENOVATIONS
East Lake Library, the city's busiest branch library, will close April 30
for a major renovation.
WM: Several libraries can vie for 'busiest library' PR, but the sentence
so obscures the issue that it becomes misinformation in the headline. If
hours open, type of library (regional or community or central), amount
of space, materials budget, and staff are justly factored into the
equation that could become information. Library stats, while boring as
cow dung, make winkling out that information very tricky indeed. MPL
stats are largely unreliable for making logical decisions about anything.
... the library is being redesigned to meet an increased demand for study space and electronic and print resources. The new library will feature expanded teen and family areas plus a larger space for its popular world language collections. The project is part of a $166 million capital improvement plan designed to upgrade all the city's libraries by 2010.
WM: This is the information contained in the post. Study space for more
students, both child and adult; print and electronic space (and the
equipment and resources to fill it); and an expanding world languages
collection TO MEET AN INCREASED DEMAND. It is a feather in the cap of
Managing Librarian Jerry Blue and his staff. (Jerry has been transferred
to North Regional in the last year, worse luck.) It means that East
Lake, as a particular outpost of the Mpls. Public Library, is pulling in
boucoup patrons. It also means that the library system has been
responsive to some of its constituencies. Say Amen, Somebody.
How much of the cost of government is due to "over-design?"
WM: I have no idea. But I'm willing to bet you dollars to doughnuts that
over-design does not come into the picture at East Lake Library..
I don't believe
that building a library is rocket science these days.
WM: Probably not, but there are several of the sciences which come into
play: heavier foundations to support the weight of the materials as
static weight, estimating the number of patrons a building without any
additional land can support, building enough library so that the
enlargement works over a goodly span of time, yadda-yadda.
Or maybe it is, after looking at the wings on the new downtown library.
WM: Actually, I think a system that allows a library to hover above the
land with the patrons beamed up into it would be a lot more
interesting, but maybe a smidgen too spendy.
WizardMarks, Central
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