Architectural Record Article - Glasgow School of Art

Hi everyone,

One of my library precedents recently popped up in Architectural Record. Its the Glasgow School of Art, and they are planning addition by Stephen Holl. The article is a critique of the new building, which includes a response from Holl himself. I recommend the slide show since the renderings are pretty interesting (its unbuilt right now). The best part is that I am intimately acquainted with the area, since I actually studied abroad in Glasgow (in 2003) and took classes at the art school (through Glasgow University).

If you don't know much about the original library, it was designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh, a native Scottish architect who is kind of like their version of Frank Lloyd Wright (same arts and crafts influence, furniture design, incredible stained glass designs, etc.). The original building, from what I remember, is honestly pretty archaic; interesting, but pretty out-of-date, especially for an art school. So this Holl addition is ruffling some feathers, but perhaps its what the Glasgow School of Art needs? You can find the article at: http://archrecord.construction.com/features/critique/2011/1102commentary.asp

Library-chic

Libraries play a vital role in our educational development. Just as learning environments evolve to acknowledge different learning styles, so too should the library in order to provide access to information we have become accustomed to receiving through various channels. However, if the library exists to “democratize the exchange of information” as Matt points out, the channels, or at least the delivery of information has to remain objective.

Library 2.0 may mean the demise of shushing ladies and the dank smell, replaced by hipster information specialists toting digital readers. We should accept that people prefer to access information differently and promote innovative means of accessing it. To me, this means that the conventional book has just as significant a role in the library as the Kindle or the World Wide Web. Users must have a choice as to how to absorb information.

The library in its traditional context is symbolic in my mind. They reflect a global effort to promote education and enlightenment. I suppose I have always thought of libraries as information storage, but the reading and my research prove that information storage is not synonymous with information access.

As a symbol, I support the idea of a library being a community center where social interaction and information consumption can occur through coincidental exchanges. This symbol may take many forms for many uses, some of which are fitting and others, such as gaming rooms, are pushing the boundaries of what I would consider a library to provide. The major concern I have with the Library 2.0 evolution is the credibility of sources that libraries provide access to. My stance on information objectivity would qualify any source as viable. I will say though, I have always relied on the shushing ladies to guide me towards informational sources of value and substance. Can the tweeting information specialists provide the same level of service?

The Perambulating Library

Bookmobile, c.1935                                                                                  iPad, c.2011

Information Delivery 

The first record of an operational bookmobile dates back to 1859.  The Warington Perambulating Library, a horse-drawn carriage stacked with maps, texts, and pamphlets, loaned nearly 12,000 books on the streets of Lancashire, England in its first year of operation.  Bookmobiles continue to operate throughout the world and, in some remote communities, offer the only access to publicly owned printed material.  In many ways, the bookmobile and Library 2.0 share the same motive: to increase public access to knowledge and actively expand that access beyond the confines of physical space. 

I bring up the concept of the bookmobile to point out that Library 2.0 is not the first challenge to the conventional role of libraries as bastions of the written word.  While the bookmobile exists essentially as a form of information delivery, it offers an instructive variation on the concept of public book lending.  Unlike the library which is geographically fixed, the bookmobile seeks out readers, offering not only access to information but offering it on the readers’ own familiar territory.  Is this not also how Library 2.0 claims to operate within the terrain of new, social media?  The distinct advantage of Library 2.0 and the lowly bookmobile are that they actively promote access to public knowledge while acting as deployable frameworks for public discourse.  (I use “deployable” here in the sense that both operate in the “field”, or beyond the walls of the physical library.)

Access

Library 2.0, digitization of print media, user-manipulated content, and the application of social media concepts, at first glance, seem to threaten not only the role of libraries, but the book itself.  However, if we begin to see libraries as vehicles for information delivery, rather than mere information storage, it is easier to accept the transformations libraries are making.  John Sutter offers an excellent working definition for the library: “A free place where people can access and share information.”  This definition grants enough latitude to include past library oddities such as the bookmobile and possibly even new forms of media distribution such as digital readers.  Because bookmobiles and digital readers are designed specifically to deliver data directly to the reader while offering the potential for social exchange, they democratize the exchange of information.  Free access is perhaps the most valuable endowment that libraries possess but it depends on how well the library is able to deliver information to the public.  The library of the future should look beyond convention and adopt active strategies that defend and deliver free access.

Deployable

Like the bookmobile, the Library 2.0 paradigm is framing how the library might exist beyond the shackles of its own physical geography.  This discussion is appropriate in the age of social media where many of our relationships and interactions are mobile, i.e., not restricted to or confined by contact in physical space.  While this concept blurs the lines between information, communication, and scholarship (which is a problematic proposition deserving of its own discussion), it does encourage us to think of “library” as a deployable framework for communication rather than a fixed repository of data.  If the modern library’s role is transformed from data storage to public dialogue/data exchange, then we can assume that much of that exchange will follow current models of communication, which are increasingly untethered from geography.  

Issues

For architects who, for the most part, are tasked with designing geographically fixed, physical spaces, an argument for a missionary system of deployable, virtual libraries may be too much of a tangent.  However, the scale and effectiveness of bookmobiles in service of specific community needs does offer an interesting alternate library type to explore.  If nothing else, I think the bookmobile is a valid and informative precedent for how public information might be delivered in the near-future.

Hi all!

Libraries and book stores is a very sensitive subject for me. Because I love them! I love the smell and yes, I do get “emotionally attached” to books. I refuse to buy books in soft covers because they don’t feel the same. I think that no author would agree to print the book they worked on so such long time in a soft cover! (I know this doesn’t make sense, and not true)

I think that as technology develops more and more libraries will not be as popular any longer. I feel like in order to bring people back to libraries one would have to make it an exclusive place -- something that you would have to pay money in order to get in or belong to. But that’s just my opinion….

As for the course, I am really excited to about this project and I hope it will be fun. However, I do not like the site very much. And this is just because it seems like every single instructor used this site at some point during my studies at the BAC… Not only we walk by it every time we are at school, we also studied it several times in other classes (not studios)…Would it be too late to change the site?? (Just a suggestion…)

-Maryna

I agree with all the posts thus far; I feel that if one travels to an urban library during the week and takes a marked observation of how many people, and what demographic groups, are using the library, more people would realize the importance of keeping these institutions open and up to date. Whenever I move to a new city, my first course of action is finding the library and getting a library card- it just makes me feel more at home!

In doing research on my precedents this week, it seems that many libraries being built today (though most of these examples are in Europe) are opting to build in such a way to allow evolution of sorts. In other words, designing open spaces or technology areas that can adapt to future inventions and uses. Considering the rapid pace at which technology changes, perhaps this is the best method? It reminds me of Cradle to Cradle (McDonough and Braungart), which urges initial designs to be flexible enough to allow different uses down the line.

The Future of Libraries

I too have had a life long love of libraries. I began working in my home town's public library when I was 15. I then worked in a neighborhood branch for 3 years until it was closed due to budget cuts in the city. I then worked at the Science and Engineering library at BU for 4 years before starting at the BAC. I have been working at the BAC library since I started the program in 2008.

I agree that libraries need to adapt to the new digital resources, however I disagree that books should be completely replaced. Not all indexes and contents are cataloged from each book which makes it impossible to find every resource available on a topic you're researching unless you browse the stacks. Also, historical archiving isn't the same when books are scanned digitally. Most science and engineering text is available primarily online, however I was surprised at the small amount of architecture and design information available online. Books have been imperative to almost every design class I have taken that involves any kind of precedent study or existing building research.

I think the new programmatic elements being incorporated into libraries is very exciting. It has always been a place where all the community is welcome, but now these dedicated spaces for that purpose makes libraries even more inviting. These new points of interest also help the general public remain interested in continuing to visit the libraries when they could easily find online material or read from their kindle, nook or ipad.

Some things I have found regarding the changing faces of library recently are "Anythink" a new library idea started in Adams County, CO and Scott Douglas, a public librarian in California who has a blog (Observations on a Life Not Yet Observed) and a twitter account (@scott_douglas). His book "Quiet Please, Dispatches from a Public Librarian" I would recommend to any person interested in libraries.

Two things. First, there is a clear move to digital, which libraries need to pay attention to. It's hard to say how fast and how completely our information will evolve from hard copy to digital. If you were to design a library, it seems that a main aspect of the design would be to ask your self what that evolution will look like, and then try to plan for the future in your design.

Second, the program of libraries is evolving, and incorporating many new programmatic elements. In this regard, it seems to me that paying attention to how these program elements operate together will be very important. Adjacencies, noise control, etc. I was in the silent reading room at the Watertown library about a month ago, and some "gentleman" was watching a sitcom on his laptop laughing time away. Not cool! This type of situation should be given some attention.

To say that I am a lover of libraries is an understatement. I, like Laura, have been an avid library-goer and make it a point to visit the main public library branch when I go to a new city.
I have a strong connection with education and books, as I am the daughter of a teacher and worked as a designer in an educational publishing house for several years. I was raised with major emphasis on education, complete with weekly library visits and math flash cards. In my adult hood I worked at a place where we made books!

My experience with libraries and education evolved after entering the world of architecture. At my current firm I have been lucky enough to work on two libraries and the experience showed me how the role of libraries must change and grow with their communities. I learned so much the days I had to do site visits just by looking around and seeing the way people use the library. There were people of all ages and demographics studying, on computers and being tutored. Libraries are vital to our communities and its important for them to be flexible and able to grow with the people in which they serve. I chose the library group (#1) to research this past week because they were a mix between community driven and academic libraries with digital media centers and catalogs, the things I have found myself very interested in in the recent months.

There was a little article about librarians in the paper yesterday, it was nice to see a little blurb about libraries out there. Hopefully it will encourage people to visit their local branch soon.

After reading this week's article on the future of libraries, I certainly feel more excited about the way in which they're evolving. Being a lifelong library-goer, I have often feared for the fate of libraries, especially in smaller towns. I had always envisioned them as becoming one and the same with community centers, but hadn't considered them as a wealth of solely (or primarily) electronic knowledge. I have noticed that in times of unemployment or unstable economic times they become a haven for many job hunters who lack basic resources at home.

As someone who finds things like the Kindle kind of scary, though, I'm hoping to expand my notions of what a "library" means. I'm also wondering if there's a way for the "shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves" to coexist with the land of books that many people still love? And would such a transition happen smoothly, or does there have to be a conscious and continued effort to revolutionize these institutions? I am thinking some of the best precedents or examples of such a movement are definitely college and university prototypes (which happens to be my entire group), many of which have started to include multimedia centers and all sorts of different library combinations.