Libraries: New Salons of the 21st Century
Libraries have always been one of my very favorite places. Thankfully, The New York Times tells us that libraries are starting to look more like internet cafes and bookstores and less like quiet rows of book-lined shelves. “Libraries see their roles as much more of a cultural gathering place where people come together, kind of like the salons of the French and Victorian coffee houses.”
With its overstuffed chairs, attractive displays and helpful employees, you might think you were at a Barnes & Noble — but you’re at the Darien, Conn., public library, reports Fran Silverman in The New York Times (11/11/07). With its “working fireplace, meeting rooms, couches, love seats, a children’s play area and an art gallery,” you might think you were at a lovely inn — but you’re at the Cold Spring Harbor Library. What’s going on in Darien and Cold Spring Harbor apparently is happening all over the place: “From Princeton in New Jersey to West Hartford in Connecticut, libraries are starting to look more like internet cafes and bookstores and less like quiet rows of book-lined shelves.”
Heck, the Wilton, Conn., library not only has “a 150-seat theater where jazz concerts and beer tastings have been held,” but also “a drive-up window.” Not to be outdone, the children’s library in nearby Fairfield “has a fish tank, lighthouse, puppet theater and toddler room where the youngest of patrons can tumble while the adults who accompany them can converse.” Where some might have predicted the library’s dusty demise in today’s wired world, the effect has been just the opposite: “Human contact has gradually gone away,” observes Maxine Bleiweis of the Westport, Conn., library. “You add the isolation of the suburbs and you’ve really got a situation where people need to come together.”
Darien’s Louise Berry comments: “Libraries see their roles as much more of a cultural gathering place where people come together, kind of like the salons of the French and Victorian coffee houses.” Cold Spring Harbor’s Helen Crosson agrees: “It is a comfortable place, an extension of home, where you can meet neighbors and catch up on the news, learn and play and read.” In Connecticut alone, “about a half-dozen libraries a year … either rebuild or renovate.” And nationwide, “visits to libraries across the country have increased. Circulation in libraries rose by 28 percent in the last decade, and visits increased 61 percent from 1994 to 2004, according to the American Library Association.[Reveries]
eÆsthete
Libraries as a gathering place? Hold on world. We’re in the year 2007 and if Amazon dot com has anything to say about it, we’ll all be doing our reading right in the palm of our hand! It’s called the Kindle. Why go to the library when one can pick up their favorite book right on the Kindle? Good grief Charlie Brown! What is this world coming to?
I’ve heard about the Kindle Charlie Brown…it can’t be all bad, can it? But you’re right about the world and what it’s coming to. Where ever you are out there, I just want to say Merry Chistmas to you. And also to the errant aesthete. I love your website…keep up the good work !
I just have to respond to this, because stumbling here can’t be coincidence. The library at Alexandria was destroyed centuries ago, and yet we in the 21st century are still talking about the demise of the library. There are libri everywhere, even in information-closed countries, and according to my perch behind the director’s desk, they seem to still be holding their own. Readership in this country is up quite a bit from ten years ago (even if funding is decidedly not), due in part to places like Barnes & Noble and devices like kindle. Many libraries are indeed redesigning space and restructuring goals to meet the needs of communities of which they are, and wish to remain, a vital part. This is all quite natural. The basic purpose for a library’s existence has not changed over the millennia, even though the way business is conducted inside has changed according to time and need. Bookstores have been around for centuries as well, the basic purpose unchanged. New technology that gives access to accurate information, good literature and fresh ideas is always exciting, and is an additional contributor to the cause of a literate and informed society. There is no reason why these things cannot work to benefit each other. I believe that they do. Saying goodbye to libraries and bookstores in favor of technology, especially now, is at best premature folly. 2000 came and went and no one’s computer system blew up because of it. Many libraries have banks of computers, yet people still come to check out books; circulation has not dropped, but either stablilized or risen depending on where you are.
Libraries, bookstores and technology are very different now than they were 20 years ago, and will of necessity look different again in another 20 years. I look forward with excitement to what that will look like.
Susan, I couldn’t agree with you more! I have so many treasured memories of the magnificent library in San Francisco’s Civic Center, where I would search or wander, study or daydream, be solitary or converse with someone. I think people yearn for both knowledge/information and community. That for me is the true reason behind the success of Starbucks and Barnes & Noble; those businesses fulfilled a need a lot of folks didn’t know they had. The library in my current neighborhood is essentially a community center. It is fairly new, very inviting and a place for people of all ages.
Susan, I’m curious. Is your “perch behind the director’s desk” in a library?
Best wishes for a great new year.