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Libraries as a public place

By Carol Laidlaw

In my childhood, libraries were about books and silence. They were places where you read books, did your homework and tiptoed around. They are still mostly about books. But since the early 80s, they have expanded to cover other activities. When I was still in high school, I was able to borrow vinyl records and videotapes from Huyton library, this was followed by DVDs and CDs as technology and people's preferences changed. Computers and internet access followed in the 90s. Branch libraries have become community hubs, offering activities from storytelling to coffee mornings, reading groups, writer's groups, drama workshops, and noticeboards for local events and services. Libraries are not simply places to read and study. They have become places of entertainment. But do the varied uses clash?

That can depend on the nature of the building. In Oldham library, a purpose-built facility in the centre of the town, a library's original function - study, research and reading - has been designed out of existence. There are three meeting rooms on the ground floor, but otherwise both floors of the library are completely open space with no subdivision. Sound reverberates across the whole building. The children's play space is next to a set of tables designated as the Homework Area. For several months, one of the meeting rooms was used for drumming workshops. I have found no library in Liverpool this badly designed. The Central library, newly refurbished last September, has retained its open gallery style but the different uses are still largely segregated. The children's area is self-contained in what used to be the international library, the Picton library is as silent as it ever was and still looks like a traditional library, nothing but books stacked from floor to ceiling. The computers are mostly concentrated on the second floor, and there are still meeting rooms at the top of the building. It is a redesign that works well for all classes and ages of library user.

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