On a current Monday morning, the residents of Kanawha County, West Virginia, got here to take a look at a brand new chapter within the lifetime of an outdated establishment. After greater than two years and $32 million in renovations, downtown Charleston's public library reopened to the general public – much less a warehouse of books, and extra a marketplaces of concepts.
Inside, guests found a brand-new cafe, a tool-lending library, and an "thought lab" filled with the newest know-how. From podcasting cubicles to computerized stitching machines to augmented actuality screens, the power has been up to date for the trendy age.
There was an pleasure you possibly can see AND hear – which is precisely what the librarians had been hoping for. Erika Connelly, director of the Kanawha County Library, mentioned, "Librarians from time immemorial, like, you are 'Shh'!"
Correspondent Conor Knighton requested, "Are we past the age of shushing?"
"We're past the age of that, yeah!"
"I inform you what I am not seeing right here; I am not seeing a ton of books."
"No! We've got 3D machines, we now have robotics, we now have 3D pens."
Whereas there are nonetheless loads of books, the redesign allowed the employees to rethink how they had been displayed.
"It was extra concerning the engagement, how we needed our public to interact throughout the library," Connelly mentioned. "And it wasn't on the cabinets. It wasn't simply grabbing a ebook after which leaving. We needed them to remain."
Throughout the nation, library attendance has declined 21% from 2009 to 2019. However borrowing has truly elevated; it is simply moved on-line, as collections have shifted from bodily to digital materials. That is precipitated libraries to shift their considering by way of what may carry individuals by means of the doorways.
Austin Public Library director Roosevelt Weeks begins every day greeting patrons as they enter the downtown department. The 200,000-square-foot constructing fills up quick.
Knighton requested, "You've got been open for all of 9 minutes at this level, and it is bustling already."
"It is all the time like that!" Weeks replied.
Individuals come to Austin's library to play board video games, video video games, even video games of large chess.
Alongside the precise books, there are Chromebooks and MacBooks to take a look at. The teenager space hosts jam classes that includes the library's assortment of guitars.
Knighton requested, "What do you suppose is probably the most sudden bodily merchandise that you would be able to try on the library?"
Weeks replied, "Seeds. If you wish to plant a backyard, we now have seeds that you would be able to try."
"So, that is not one thing you must return, proper? There is not any late charges on seeds?"
"The 'return' is, come present us what you bought out of your backyard."
When Austin's Central Library opened in 2017, it immediately grew to become a group hub. Visitation elevated in subsequent years. Weeks described opening day as "one of the crucial wonderful days of my life. We had 17,000 individuals ready to get into this constructing."
The constructing itself is a part of the draw. Brilliant and open, filled with areas to lounge and meet, trendy libraries are trying to satisfy the wants of as we speak whereas staying versatile for the long run.
"Increasingly of those libraries are being constructed in order that they've very open ground plans," mentioned Miguel Figueroa, former director of the Middle for the Way forward for Libraries. "And I believe a part of that's that imaginative and prescient of long-term. We do not know what the following factor is perhaps.
"It is very easy to consider the long run as completely technological. And I believe quite a lot of libraries are maintaining tempo with that. On the similar time, I believe we're beginning to see that there is a actually nice future for these establishments as place – the worth of getting an open, public place in your metropolis, in your neighborhood."
In 2009, town of San Francisco grew to become the primary within the nation to rent a full-time social employee for its primary library. Dozens of cities throughout the nation have adopted swimsuit.
Figueroa mentioned, "Lots of the social security nets have been underfunded or eliminated. And sadly, that always means that there is a crunch on different public establishments, like public libraries. They're very trusted establishments, and folks really feel welcome inside them."
Individuals like Andrew Constatino, who, for a time, was a each day customer to the downtown Seattle library. "The library is like your grandmother's home," he mentioned. "In the event you're homeless or residing in poverty, that is precisely what it is like, when you find yourself allowed to be on the library. Whereas, you understand, in the event you're homeless, you are not allowed to be many locations."
Years in the past, Constatino was residing on the Seattle streets and in shelters. The library was his refuge, a spot to get out the rain and get again on his toes.
Knighton requested, "You talked about the significance of feeling welcome right here. What was it wish to not really feel welcome elsewhere?"
"Oh, it sucks!" Constatino replied. "It is like in every single place in our society you must purchase entry, you understand? If I wish to use your rest room, I've to purchase a soda pop."
Public libraries are public – a spot the place everybody can come collectively. In a single room, current immigrants observe English. In one other, first-time laptop customers discover ways to navigate the web.
The web – an always-on, limitless hub of data – did not substitute libraries. It could have made them extra important.
Miguel Figueroa mentioned, "The unintended effects of among the applied sciences, the place we do turn out to be so targeted in on on-line data or on-line discourse, that we neglect how you can join with different individuals? Libraries retrain you, I believe, to be a member of the general public, to be a part of the civic discourse."
Whereas COVID made these connections difficult (most libraries closed through the top the pandemic), there's been a current slew of grand openings. Newly-renovated libraries have popped up in every single place from Flint, Michigan to Fayetteville, Arkansas … from Spokane, Washington to Washington, D.C.
Andrew Constantino mentioned, "I actually suppose that removed from any concept that some individuals may need that the library is someway obsolescent, you understand, or, irrelevant, it's truly the other. I believe that our society as an entire wants extra establishments and public areas which are just like the library. It is far more a mannequin for a way we must always deal with different individuals than simply an artifact of the previous."
For more information:
- Kanawha County Library, Charleston, West Virginia
- Austin Public Library
- Seattle Public Library
- Middle for the Way forward for Libraries
Story produced by Aria Shavelson. Editor: Mike Levine.