This June, our whole family flew off to Minnesota for the fifth biennial Mark Bingham Cup. My husband was sent by his referees' society to be one of the officials. In his match write-up to his colleagues, he had this to say about the tourism portion of our trip:
On Thursday we thought we’d head downtown and catch a Twins game [...] Instead we met up with other MBC visitors, had lunch, and strolled around down town Minneapolis. As is our habit when we’re in a new city with time to kill we checked out the library. The new library downtown is huge and architecturally interesting. It’s also a great place to entertain a one year old and cool off for a bit.
How exciting! Long before I officially started this blog, he was getting into the library-tourism spirit. I am looking forward to lots more visits like this.
This library—Minneapolis Central Library or Hennepin County Central Library, depending on where you look—is quite an impressive structure to see as you approach along Nicollet Mall. Like Seattle's Central Library, its new building is quite new; it just opened its doors in 2006.
If I understand correctly, the building is actually divided into two sections: the area in the foreground of this photo is actually civic space for offices and stuff, and the library is in the background. That huge overhang is part of the entrance atrium.
The photo doesn't quite do it justice, but the windows have these panels with vertical lines that put me in mind of birch trees. Very nice. There were a lot of little touches from the surrounding natural world—always a welcome addition in a big city!
Ooooh, that is some fancy atrium action. Very exciting and busy-public-space-y.
Turn right from the atrium, and you get here: into the main floor of the library! Love the bright colors of the carpet. And the pillars really seemed to work so nicely with the space, sort of anchoring without crowding the airy feel at all. It was also nice to see so many low shelves as soon as we walked in, which meant that we could pretty much see the entire main floor upon entry.
...Whoa. Now, you know I am a big geek about public access for all comers. I had known that Minneapolis is home to a large immigrant community, but man, I was not prepared to see a Welcome sign including TWO languages that I didn't even recognize! So cool! (Google tells me that "Zoo siab txais tos" is Hmong and "Soo dhawoow" is Somali.) For the record, the Hennepin County Public Library is really wonderfully publicly committed to its special populations. Its website features a main menu with some of the usual options: "Library Catalog," "Downloads," "KidLinks;" but also "TeenLinks," "Birth to Six," and "New Immigrants." A link full of resources specifically tailored to new immigrants, prominently featured on the front page, is really terrific.
This might be the cutest themed collection I've ever seen. It puts a smile on my face to imagine library staffers dreaming up ideas to entice their patrons. "What do people like? Fiction! And pets! How about fiction about pets?!" Yessss.
This was very interesting to me. I don't think I've ever seen actual book rentals at a library before; videos for pay are pretty common now, but books was a new one for me. I guess I'm of two minds about this. Of course, I'd like for every library to have an adequate number of new and popular books to meet the public's demand, but I know that taxpayers are not always so keen on footing the bill, and the money has to come from somewhere. So, this seems like a creative way to bridge the gap (and for die-hard library fans to offer a little extra financial support, perhaps?). I know that if this system were implemented at my library, though, I'd stick to the old-fashioned waitlist method. I enjoy the suspense of waiting for my crack at a hotly anticipated book, and... well... okay, I'm cheap. I am curious about what you'd do if your library offered a "Bestseller Express" program: is $4 a fair price to pay for skipping the line? What do you think?
In the upper right hand corner of this photo is a huge dragonfly, which is—of course—leading the way to...
The children's section!
Regarding this entry path, I am really getting spoiled by all these lovely, big, beautifully designed urban libraries. I'm going to start expecting such pretty, inviting displays everywhere I go.
I only got a few photos of my husband and son taking a look around (and enjoying Dr. Seuss memorabilia) before my husband plopped down for a rest, and the kiddo and I wandered off to check out some extremely exciting blocks and do a little light reading. Tragically, none of this is pictured (I was just too busy with the board books), so you will just have to imagine us having a grand old time.
Our visit to Minneapolis Central was short but sweet: a fun place to duck inside from the summer heat, rest our bodies, and flex our brains.
