Main Library Planning Progresses . . .

 

Over the past few months, Library and County Engineering staff worked with architects and community members to craft a program plan for the renovation of the Main Library.  We are seeking additional input from the Board of Trustees, County Administration, and County Commissioners. When finalized, the program plan will form the basis of a design and construction project to complete a renaissance of regional library services that began a decade ago.

 

Public comments from the July 29 meeting are posted at:

http://www.durhamcountylibrary.org/news/pr/main_meeting_2008_07_29.pdf

In addition to verbal comments people made at the meeting, you can read what people wrote down in response to these questions:

 

1.  What is the best role of the Main Library in the Durham County Library system?

2.  How can the Main Library better relate to the city?

3.  What is the one thing you would change at Main Library?

4.  Other comments

 

Second Community Meeting on the Main Library

Last Thursday evening, SmithGroup architects Chris Brasier and Bill Ash, along with consulting library architects Ed Lazaron and Jeffrey Scherer, presented concepts for ways the Main Library could be renovated.  A good summary of that meeting was posted by Kevin Davis on his blog Bull City Rising.  See http://www.bullcityrising.com/2008/09/library-forum-r.html.

The PowerPoint slide show is now available at http://www.durhamcountylibrary.org/news/pr/2008_0925%20DCL%20Public%20Mtg.pdf.  You’ll see some very interesting visual depictions of ways the Downtown Loop could be reconfigured, and we may learn other ways once a study gets under way by the City of Durham in a few months.  In addition, you’ll see concepts for replacing the two entrances with a single entrance on the Liberty Street side, some great photos of program ideas such as study rooms, casual reading areas, special graphics and creative play areas in the Children’s Library, Teen Zones, etc.  Enjoy!

A final report will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners later this year.

Communication To & From the Community

Members of the Durham community are providing lots of input for County staff, including Library and Engineering staff, and our architect consultants.  Thank you!

Our architects will share the information they have gathered at the forum this Thursday – 5:00-6:30pm, Main Library Auditorium. Chris Brasier of SmithGroup, Inc. describes the process as one of listening and refining. The architects heard what staff and the public had to say about what we would like to see in the new Main Library. They have taken that information and have begun to put together the building blocks of the program plan. On Thursday they will present what they’ve learned and will take additional feedback in order to further refine the plan.

The architects have not given us materials in advance of Thursday’s forum, however the slideshow will be available online at some point after the meeting. The slideshow from the first forum is on our website at http://www.durhamcountylibrary.org/news/pr/2008_07_29%20DCPL%20Public%20Meeting_sm.pdf.

See you soon!

One More Community Meeting @ Main Library

Join us Thursday, Sept. 25 from 5:00 to 6:30pm at the Main Library auditorium to hear what our architects have learned from you and from their study of the Main Library.  It’s another chance to give your suggestions and ideas for what you want in the renovation.  See you in a few weeks!

Main Library Planning & Programming

The community meeting about Main Library will take place tomorrow from 5:30 to 7:00pm at the Main Library Auditorium. The meeting will be divided into two parts:

(A) Presentation by the great architects who are working with us to understand our existing building and site, and

(B) Listening to the community members who assemble to hear what you feel is important as we develop this Library as a Place for our community to meet, to study, to learn, to bring our children, to connect with the world of information and ideas in these packages called books, CDs, DVDs, and nowadays, electrons flowing through the wires and airwaves that form the Internet.

On Wednesday, our architects will be conducting focus groups from dawn ’til dusk with groups such as the Business community, the Faith community, Homeless and Poor people, the Hispanic/Latino community, Neighborhoods, Parents of young children, Seniors, and Teens. All this engagement with Durham people is to learn what our community wants and needs in its Main Library.

Should we even call it the Main Library any more? Over the past five years, we’ve planned and built a Regional Library System, with a full service library within five miles of every Durham County resident. East Regional Library and North Regional Library are the first of what will be four regional libraries. They are wonderful! If you haven’t visited one or both of them, you must!!! And if you haven’t visited the historic Stanford L. Warren Library, that’s one of the 10 Things to Do Before You Die. Seriously. It’s a treasure!

So if we’re a regional library system, should our downtown library be called the Central Library? Our regional libraries are 25,000 square foot facilities, while our existing Main Library is a 65,000 square foot building. So what distinguishes it from the regional libraries? What do we all want and need this Library to be?

I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow and Wednesday!

Bull City Rising Blog entry pertaining to the Main Library Planning.

Main Library Renewal Coming!

About two weeks ago, we kicked off a Planning & Programming Study of our Main Library. You are invited to a community meeting:

Tuesday, July 29 from 5:30 to 7:00pm at the Main Library Auditorium, 300 N. Roxboro Street (RSVP here)

Come for a presentation by the architects we’ve hired to conduct this study and to give us your suggestions and ideas for what you want in this renovation and possible expansion project. Our lead architect is Chris Brasier of SmithGroup, with offices at American Tobacco in downtown Durham; architect Bill Ash also works with Chris as part of SmithGroup. They have teamed with two library architects: Ed Lazaron of Design Collaborative, Virginia Beach and Jeffrey Scherer of Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle of Minneapolis.

The study is in two parts:

(1) Building Evaluation: SmithGroup has mechanical & structural engineers and others evaluating the existing building. We know it has “good bones,” and we want to learn all about “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of our Main Library.

(2) Programming Plan: We want to figure out all the things we want in a new library. For example, we know we need magic and wonderful spaces for our children’s areas. We know we need magic in a new “Teen Zone,” too. How many computers will we need? The 50 or so we have now are in almost constant use. Do we need 100, 150, 200? Does our auditorium need to accommodate lots more people? How many quiet study rooms, conference rooms, tutoring rooms, etc. do we need? Should we have a Friends of the Library retail store? A cafe? A greatly expanded local history area to accommodate the ever-growing resources in the bursting-at-the-seams Benjamin Powell Memorial North Carolina Room? Oh, there are so many things we’ve been hearing from so many of you!

We’re reaching out to you here and now to invite your hopes and dreams for this library at the heart of our city and county. Please come Tuesday, July 29 at 5:30pm!!!