I've always been somebody who enjoyed checking out the libraries in towns and cities I've visited across Canada and around the world. Whether it's a public, academic or other type of library, it's always interesting to see the different designs, layouts and atmospheres they each manage to create.
The idea of library tourism was on my mind today as I went out for my first “van run”, along with SERL's (Southeast Regional Library) driver who makes a trip that covers approximately 10 of our 50 libraries each day to distribute and redistribute books. Even seeing the different approaches that ten or so libraries in various towns and villages around SE Saskatchewan take towards making their libraries inviting and targeted to their community was a very enjoyable experience. All have similarities but yet manage to be distinctly different as well.
I think it was asked as one of the “Roll Call” questions we did in our cohort listserv (and maybe once in the comments of this blog) so I'll ask it again here on the front page – what is your favourite library of any you've visited and why?
I've got a few but at the time I picked (and would likely still pick) the Crowfoot Crossing branch that had opened in Calgary in 2004. It's got a special place in my heart because a local Calgary librarian and writer invited me to come with her to the opening as her “community rep” and also because I got to hear the amazing library advocate, Alberta Lt. Governor Lois Hole speak for the first time (and as I've discussed before, it's no surprise that she's part of the Saskatchewan Mafia!)
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Julie M. posted this comment on the syndicated version of this post on Facebook but I thought I'd copy it here. (Actually, I'll probably start doing that with any Facebook comments I get on my posts to “keep everything together and organized” – must be the librarian in me!)
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Hi Jason – I share your love of library tourism and have been called a junkie by friends and family who endure my habit. I was in the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Puebla, Mexico last week (oldest library in Mexico — I was in Mexico on an MBA class). It was breathtaking — with an entry portal more ornate and distinctive than any I have ever seen. The Baroque detailing of every architectural element was mind-boggling. The acoustic of the space reminded me of how so many old reading rooms paid attention to this detail as we truly fail to do so today. It reminded me of the acoustics in the British Library (the old reading room that is in the British Museum now) and those of the Radcliffe Camera at Oxford where you cannot hear the words of any other scholars from where you work — just mutterings in a quiet hum. That smell too – nothing like the smell of REALLY old books to evoke memories. It was a highlight of my trip to Mexico.
Julie
A former coworker showed me a picture of the following library (La Bibliothèque Louis Nucéra) from her trip to France a few years back. It has to be one of the coolest libraries I have ever seen. I hope to check it out whenever I get to Nice, France.
Nice's Municipal Region Library's website: (top left photo is the library)
http://www.bmvr-nice.com.fr/opacwebaloes/index.aspx?IdPage=1
La Bibliothèque Louis Nucéra Photo: http://www.lignedazur.com/ftp/FR_balades/Louis%20Nucera.jpg
Another interesting library design is the new Alexandria library: Bibliotheca Alexandrina
http://www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx