Downtown Libraries are Back in Style

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville:

Please bear with this longer-than-usual post. I scrolled through a fascinating online "slide presentation" by noted architect and writer Witold Rybczynski the other day -- which led to some additional reflections (and research). Rybcynski's slide show on the Slate web site is titled, How do you build a public library in the age of Google? His main point: libraries are far from dead in today's internet age -- in fact, they're making a comeback as key anchors in our downtowns.

Rybczynski notes that: "The concept of the grand downtown library dates from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, when cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago built ambitious public libraries. The chief symbolic space of these buildings was a magnificent reading room." He then shows recent examples of dramatic new libraries in places like Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Denver.

photos above from Denver Public Library web site; showing exterior & Western History reading room.

Last summer when I was traveling across the U.S. on Route 50 I also saw how evidence of this in smaller places such as Pueblo, Colorado (see my photo immediately below) and Moab, Utah.

In fact, the new Moab public library (photos left & below) is part of a small complex of public buildings just a block off the small city's downtown main street. Right next door are the municipal offices, in a recently rehabbed former elementary school building.

The library itself was a delightful place. When I stepped inside, it was a beehive of activity, with people of all ages engrossed in reading and, yes, in using the internet.

In an article in the Champlain Business Journal, Libraries Anchor Small Communities (June 2006; not available online), reporter Annie Stamper writes that: "No more just a place to find books, today's library is a place that extends far beyond its physical walls with the addition of digital information and access. Particularly in small towns, the library is often the hub of the community, providing a place for residents to meet, as well as to learn."

Many cities and towns across America are still blessed by what was perhaps the greatest philanthropic legacy this country ever received: Andrew Carnegie's grants program to help fund the construction of libraries in communities large and small.

From 1896 to 1925  Carnegie provided grants for the construction of 1,679 libraries in 49 states (and 156 in Canada) -- only Rhode Island was somehow left out! About 70 percent of the Carnegie libraries were built in small towns with fewer than 10,000 people -- with the first of the typical Carnegie-funded libraries being constructed in Fairfield, Iowa (see image on right; incidentally, the building now houses continuing education classes for Indian Hills Community College).

Invariably, a Carnegie library was a well-designed building, often a local landmark in the center of town. Fortunately, most of the Carnegie libraries are still standing, many remaining in active use as local libraries, treasured by generations of residents. In my hometown of Burlington, Vermont, that's certainly the case -- and I've written a number of my blog posts inside the Fletcher Free Library (photo on left) built with a $50,000 gift from Andrew Carnegie in 1904.

For more on Carnegie Libraries, see our Public Buildings web page on them, which includes several old postcard images.

In an excellent recent column, Libraries and New Americans: The Indispensible Link, Neil Peirce has also written about the valuable impact Carnegie Libraries had -- and the key role that libraries still play -- in integrating immigrants and other newcomers into our communities:

"In immigrant-heavy suburbs of Washington, D.C., many public libraries have recast themselves as welcome centers. Some checkout desks have signs in Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese. A recent immigrant from the Dominican Republic said: 'I come to the library almost every day. And two days a week I follow the conversation classes. We have the opportunity not only to improve our English but to get new friends from all over the world.'  ... Our public libraries, argues library expert Plummer Alston Jones, 'have remained a sovereign alchemist turning the base metal of immigrant potentialities into the gold of American realities.' "

For more on the role libraries can play as community centers, see the Project for Public Spaces web site.

Libraries, like post offices and city halls, are key public buildings in our communities. In an article we published a few years ago, Ed McMahon (now a senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute) pointed out that:

“Public buildings and spaces create identity and a sense of place. They give communities something to remember and admire. The challenge facing public architecture is to provide every generation with structures that link them with their past, fill them with pride, and reinforce their sense of belonging. … In recent years there have been a growing number of instances where communities have demanded higher quality in the design of new public buildings and resisted efforts to move post offices, city halls, and other civic institutions to out-of-the-way locations.” -- from "Public Buildings Should Set the Standard" (PCJ #41, Winter 2001).

Libraries can also bring economic benefits to downtowns and village centers. According to planning journalist Phil Langdon:

"Experts in downtown development and commercial revitalization say public buildings are important both socially and economically. 'A typical public library draws 500 to 1,500 people a day,' says Robert Gibbs of Gibbs Planning Group in Birmingham, Michigan. 'That’s close to the draw of small department store. A typical town hall draws 200 to 500 people a day.” Those people help to enliven the sidewalks and put money in the cash registers of nearby stores and restaurants. In addition, Gibbs says, public buildings “add to the authenticity of a town. They make it less of a shopping center and more of a town center.” -- from "Public Buildings Keep Town Centers Alive" (PCJ #49, Winter 2003).

On a larger scale, the city of Seattle -- with its striking new downtown library -- has found substantial economic benefits. In a July 2005 economic benefits assessment, the study team found:

"More than 2.3 million individuals are expected to visit the Central Library during its first year of operation, including approximately 700,000 out-of-town visitors. As the new Library is drawing a greater number of visitors from a larger radius, these increases in activity drive the economic benefits the Library brings to Seattle, both in terms of additional spending and a more vibrant and active Downtown.

For a fascinating look at the background of the design of the Seattle library, including the innovative "book spiral," see the first eight minutes of the following video, with architect Joshua Prince-Ramus.

The Library is associated with $16 million in net new spending in Seattle in its first year of operations -- equal to $80 million for 5 years ... Nearby businesses report increases in spending associated with Library visitors. ...

photos from the Seattle Public Library web site. For more on the building, see a special report in The Seattle Times newspaper.

[continuing from Economic Assessment] The increased number of Library visitors contributes to Downtown vitality and vibrancy, making Downtown a more attractive residential and commercial market ... Developers and marketers are already using the Library to promote their properties. Given its location amongst office buildings and government offices, the Library is a vibrant anchor, knitting together the residential neighborhoods of Belltown and First Hill and retail concentrations in the Downtown shopping district and Pioneer Square."

The bottom line: downtown libraries reward readers and reward communities, young and old, large and small.