Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Opening Plenary: Cynthia Nikitin on the Place of Libraries in Changing Times

  • libraries are good at change / doing more with less
  • need to become public spaces / destinations
  • have a big role in community building
  • are about serving needs, not *just* eye-catching buildings
  • PPS (check out www.pps.org) Cynthia's non-profit organization
  • William Whyte = mentor of pps...has written a few books...check them out
  • a not-so-nice physical building will disappear if the stuff going on inside is fab
  • start with your community and place and work on solutions together...don't start with the solution...use a storied/organic approach as opposed to a structured / bureaucratic approach
  • ensure your buildings have "active edges"...if people hang around outside, give them somewhere to sit
  • cooperate with local transit so bus stops right at front door (Wave and MJ good...CPark and Brodie need improvement)
  • co-program with other outdoor activities close by
  • "library square" idea
  • access + linkages
  • if you focus on creating a PLACE then you do everything else differently
  • contemplation: I wonder if you can apply the same principles to the Virtual Library?...hmmm...

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