National Library Week, April 23-29

Many years I write an omnibus piece covering a bunch of issues, including library architectural and programmatic design, and what we might call current affairs.

The two biggest issues these days are:

1.  Campaigns all across the US, in conservative areas, to ban books. It's mostly in the schools, but also in public libraries ("Why Americans must unite against the organized effort to ban library books," Nashville Tennessean, "History of Book Bans in the U.S.," National Geographic), "Book bans in US public schools increase by 28% in six months, Pen report finds," Guardian).

This has led to some defunding of libraries in Michigan ("s") and Missouri ("Missouri libraries dodge GOP funding strike — for now," Kansas City Beacon). And probably elsewhere.

Toronto Public Library has a display of books increasingly banned in the US.  

The Brooklyn Public Library will provide a library card to anyone in the US, to evade censorship bans.

2.  Funding.  Besides punitive funding cuts in support of book banning, libraries always have to worry about funding.

For example, New York City, which has just opened up a bunch of new library facilities ("A Love Letter to Libraries, Long Overdue," New York Times) is proposing budget cuts that could lead to weekend closures ("NYC Budget Would Close Libraries On Weekends While Police Get Huge Bonuses," Vice). 

This is tragic considering how libraries (and parks) are the primary civic assets in a community that are public facing (schools too, but only for those people who have families), and key "social infrastructure" elements ("Neighborhood libraries as nodes in a neighborhood and city-wide network of cultural assets").

Last year, I wrote about the new Granite Library in the Salt Lake County system ("New Granite Library, Salt Lake County Public Library System").  

Sadly I had a prior commitment, otherwise I would have gone to the presentation on making naan.

Granite has some "unique" features like outdoor playground and amphitheater, an expanded maker space, and an exhibition teaching kitchen.

But it made me think, along with some other public facilities in Salt Lake City proper, about how even well designed public buildings can fail when it comes to connecting to the spaces around it, whether or no there is an interest in promoting local economic development and commercial district improvement, etc.  I still have to figure all that out for a blog post.

I also wrote about the Friends of the Salt Lake Library, which is a master group covering all branches.  I think they are pretty remarkable ("Outdoor library book sale as an opportunity for "social bridging"/triangulation").

Salt Lake County and City have separate library systems, and they do a lot of great things in terms of innovative programming, both in terms of what libraries offer, and their programs.

Last week, the Salt Lake Performance Art Festival took place at the main library, with many of the performances in the arcade, which they call the "Urban Room."

Salt Lake County doesn't really have a main library the way Salt Lake City does, and I think the SLC main library is one of the best in the US, but sadly covid has affected it.  The library had a lot of co-located cultural functions and cafes, and they seem to be on the decline, as many have closed.

The County's Viridian Events Center isn't a main branch per se, but it is a conference center and outdoor amphitheater, and while it is rentable, it's also well programmed by their own events, like dances.

Even so, careful observation shows that the Salt Lake City and County libraries can still improve.  

One such area is in displaying civic information.  Both systems have public displays for flyers on events and sometimes the happenings of the respective local governments.  But that could be more systematic.  I think that libraries should have "kiosks" on government happenings--minutes, etc.