the central public library is a key civic space

I find myself in an unusual position: I'm usually the one advocating for distributed, virtual everything.  But not in the case of a central public library.  While I agree with Ken Gray that there should be library branches everywhere - why not an Internet kiosk with book pickup and dropoff at your local coffee shop? - I do think that a central public library plays a key role in the public space of the city.

Some councillors have been musing about spending $200 million for a monumental main library branch. If the city were flush with cash, that would be a worthwhile project. But one wonders if there isn't a less-expensive and more-effective way of getting the library and the Internet to residents.

When I enter the Rosemount branch, which is in a neighbourhood with some economic and social difficulties, I see about eight computers almost always occupied (often by children) near the entrance. That's a way of getting the Internet in the hands of people without the means to own their own computer.

Rather than spend $200 million on a huge downtown library, perhaps the library board should be looking at something smaller, more effective and more extensive.

Instead, let's extend the reach of the library system by creating small storefront kiosks with a banks of computers so that clients can access the Internet and the virtual library. The branches could continue with their traditional stacks and maintain their very useful function of being places where you can pick up your materials ordered from the virtual library.

Ottawa Citizen - Ken Gray . Taking libraries to the street - December 21, 2007

If Ottawa had a fantastic downtown, I might even be inclined to agree, but let's face it, Ottawa has a dismal downtown with limited public space.  A bunch of hideous glass towers.  A brutalist National Arts Centre.  An expensive condo next to a grand old hotel.  (Plus which, people are so used to private space that they have forgotten the concept of a hotel lobby as a public space.)  A giant mall.  A former train station that is now a closed government conference centre.

Out of this a great civic life of public spaces one does not make.  Even if they do manage to do the Chamber Festival hall and the new Conference Centre, it still will make a minimal addition to the available public space.  Finished skating with the kids on the canal?  Where do you go?

Done properly, an inviting central public library is an engine for citizen engagement and enjoyment, a reminder of the common benefits we get for our tax dollars.  The city spends hundreds of millions of dollars per year on roads for the private convenience of suburbanities.  You want to know where your public library is?  Your grand municipal buildings?  Our great public works?  They're all around you... in flat black strips of multi-million dollar asphalt.  Two hundred million dollars?  Ok let's say conservatively a road costs $5 million per km.  That "monumental" expense for a library?  Same cost as 40km of road.  Crazy!  Oh wait, in 2007 alone, the city of Ottawa built 200km of road.

Previously:
August 25, 2007  America, land of the grand library