Library Architecture & Buildings

Are new library buildings better addressing community needs and 21st Century library programming?

Here in the District, many feel our new neighborhood libraries will not be forward thinking and feel more like 20th Century designs.

• Almost Half of District Residents Considered Illiterate

  People that are functionally illiterate may have some ability to read but have difficulties with crucial tasks such as filling out a job application, understanding bus schedules or reading a newspaper article.

• Minneapolis Central Library Project

  The new Minneapolis Central Library opened in 2007 -- they have a great website.

• Seattle Public Library celebrates "Libraries For All" in neighborhoods across the city

  "Libraries For All," a $196.4 million bond measure passed in 1998, promised a face-lift for Seattle public libraries, including a new Central Library and 26 new or renovated branches. Ten years later, the city boasts a series of uniquely tailored and heavily used buildings that reflect the desires of their neighborhoods.

• Alu Like opening new library sites on Oahu and offering literacy programs

  Alu Like, Inc.'s Native Hawaiian Library will open two new satellite library sites on Oahu and offer literacy programs at its eight statewide satellite sites with a $510,500 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

• Baltimore County Gets First New Library Branch In 21 Years

  The library also includes a working fireplace in the adult reading room, a plasma TV in an area specially designed for teens, and the first-ever drive-up window where people can return items, or check out new ones that they've reserved on-line.

• What about a design charette?

  A look at what design charettes are and how they could help DCPL with their library projects.

• Kojo hosts Chief Cooper on WAMU 88.5

  Chief Cooper praises her work on building new buildings but can't explain how the new libraries will be staffed given the recent budget cuts and rise in library use.

• Neighbors speak out against SW library design

  Leaders of a far Southwest D.C. community have asked a city planning board to reject a proposed branch library design they say is bizarre and utterly out of touch with their neighborhood.

• Takoma Park DC Library recaptures the past

  When the scaffolding on the Takoma Park DC library comes down this month, the newly renovated interior will match the elegance of the exterior. State-of-the-art technology has been married to the elegant style that recaptures the library's 1911 heritage as a Carnegie library.

• Library's Overdue Add-On's On

  The Brooklyn Library has raised $2 million from private sources, and expects to raise $2 million more for adding a $16 million library auditorium project to a historic building, which also includes a new plaza for the library.

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