EMPTY ROOMS

     I have noted, perhaps too frequently, that many university libraries seem to be following the trend in domestic architecture of creating 'open concept' structures which are simply large open spaces (known in the library world as 'makerspaces') devoid of both character and books. Now some high schools seem to think this is a desirable development. The rather sensational headline in the local paper recently announced: "Saunders Unveils $1.6 Million 'Library of the Future'. Perhaps it should have read: "Saunders Unveils $1.6 million 'Big Room'. Here it is:

[The image disappeared. I will assure you, it was a large room with a very small number of books.]


Cabinets of Curiosities        

      I prefer a little clutter and think a good library should be full of books and, as well, be partially an archive and a museum containing lots of ephemera. Although what follows is not picturesque I find it preferable to the space above.





Prelinger Library
          That picture is from this article, "An Idiosyncratic Library Squirreled Away in SoMa," Ryan Kost, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 24, 2015 and the Prelinger Library is, indeed, idiosyncratic. It was started by two people interested in collecting material and the interest led to their marriage as well as the library. The collection is an eclectic one and, in part, it is provided by libraries that are essentially getting out of the library business. One of the founders notes that the Prelinger was started just as "libraries all around the U.S. were “under a lot of pressure in terms of how they used their space to serve their communities,” Megan says. This meant clearing out the very objects they’d been built to hold: books. Megan and Rick began to scan the lists of books being abandoned. The libraries would send them their way, so long as they were willing to cover the cost of shipping. Their collection grew, though selectively."

    It is an interesting story and you can read it at the Prelinger Library.