[MLUG - DISCUSSION] the new Columbia Public Library

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

OK, so my wife and I combined the events of "Kids are back in
school" and "the library finally re-opened" as an excuse to go out
to lunch and see the new library, which re-opened to the public
today.

In a nutshell:

   This library will cause the timorous, the cowardly, the very 
   straight-laced and the folks who write the really cranky letters 
   to the Columbia Tribune to drop dead of heart failure on the spot.  
   I think pretty much everybody else will really love it once the 
   initial shock fades.

The slightly longer version:

   One of the more notable and laudable things about the people of 
   Columbia is their strong support for things like public 
   libraries, and the even-faster-than-general-population growth in
   the use of the Columbia Public Library.  When I first got here,
   I really couldn't think of anything very positive to say about 
   the public library other than the fact that it was usually so 
   full of people you could barely turn around.  I was delighted
   (and a bit surprised) when the city voted to build a much larger 
   one, but worried that the new one would end up being, well,
   boring.  I was even more worried when many people started to say
   that they really *liked* the temporary library space out on Park 
   de Ville, even though it had all the charm of a convenience 
   store, ableit one that was full of books and people and helpful 
   librarians, which is a good thing.  So even as the fairly daring
   (for this town) outer shell of the place went up, I was still
   afraid that it would end up being a place that people could have
   no strong feelings about.  

   Well, it's safe to say that the designers pulled no punches.  I
   can already tell that some people will absolutely hate the place.
   On the other hand, as they used to say about the Macintosh back 
   back in the 80s, at least it is worthy of criticism.  I can admit
   that I do not like the outside sculpture much *at all*.  But 
   having seen the inside, I now do understand why Paley (the 
   sculptor) made them that way.  After they are completely finished
   with the interior (the punch list is probably 200 yards long), 
   it's an easy bet that a parade of architecture and design critics
   will run through the place and I'm not actually sure what they
   will say.  I think the only completely objective thing I can say
   at the moment is that the lighting design (an absolutely crucial
   aspect of a library) looks to be excellent.  I think it is also
   fair to say that the interior space is interesting, and that the
   library desks and chairs are much better than what we are used to
   in this town.  I really like the place, but there's no doubt that
   people took some big risks putting a piece of architecture and
   design like this in central Missouri.

jking

ps--they appear to have a very large number of ethernet ports in 
likely locations (far more ports than computers), but I didn't see
any evidence that they have anything wireless happening here, which
would really be too bad.  I guess 802.11b wasn't really on anybody's
radar very much back in 1998, when the design for this was put 
together.


      

   
   
 
 

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