The New Downtown Library
Designing with Communities
Published on 1. March 2007
Book
Hardback
248 pages
978-0-8166-4896-2 (ISBN)
Description
The past twenty years have seen a building boom for downtown public libraries. From Brooklyn to Seattle, architects, civic leaders, and citizens in major U.S. cities have worked to reassert the relevance of the central library. While the libraries' primary functions-as public spaces where information is gathered, organized, preserved, and made available for use-have not changed over the years, the processes by which they accomplish these goals have. These new processes, and the public debates surrounding them, have radically influenced the utility and design of new library buildings. In The New Downtown Library, Shannon Mattern draws on a diverse range of sources to investigate how libraries serve as multiuse public spaces, anchors in urban redevelopment, civic icons, and showcases of renowned architects like Rem Koolhaas, Cesar Pelli, and Enrique Norton. Mattern's clear and careful analysis reveals the complexity of contemporary dialogues in library design, highlighting the roles that staff, the public, and other special interest groups play. Mattern also describes how the libraries manifest changing demographics, new ways of organizing collections and delivering media, and current philosophies of librarianship. By identifying unifying themes as well as examining the differences among various design projects, Mattern brings to light the social forces, as well as their architectural expressions, that form the essence of new libraries and their vital place in public life.Featured libraries are located in Brooklyn, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, and Toledo.Shannon Mattern is assistant professor of media studies and film at The New School.
Reviews / Votes
"I've kept Shannon Mattern's superb book, The New Downtown Library, beside me for several years as an invaluable guide to all the wonders and travails associated with the great project of public library-building. It doesn't pull punches, it is erudite and filled with fine insights, and the writing is energetic and at times profound."-Ken Worpole, The Cities Institute, London Metropolitan University"The New Downtown Library represents an important contribution to literature in the architecture field, but also has the potential to contribute greatly to the shaping of the future of library design. Based on impressive and original scholarship, it is an invaluable resource."-Ken Breisch, Director of Graduate Programs in Historic Preservation, University of Southern California
"Shannon Mattern approaches her subject from a very welcome multidisciplinary background, thereby providing her readers with valuable perceptions and insights that are not easily available elsewhere. An excellent and thorough examination."-David Kaser, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Science, Indiana University
"A library is more than a collection of books-it is a social and cultural institution that exerts a strong influence on the people it serves and the society in which it operates. The New Downtown Library describes the part that libraries are called upon to play in sustaining the intellectual, commercial, and social life of great American cities, and examines the controversies that arise from the conflicting demands placed on them. Shannon Mattern tells a very important story in a highly readable way."-Fred Lerner, author of Libraries through the Ages and The Story of Libraries: From the Invention of Writing to the Computer Age
"An academic look at the changing architecture of libraries."-Sara Pearce
"An intriguing paradox of the digital age and the shrinkage of space that has accompanied it is the large-scale investment that has been made in recent decades in the physical library. In New Downtown Library Shannon Mattern expertly unpacks this unexpected renaissance in the design and construction of big city-center public libraries that has occurred in the wake of the suburbanizing, centrifugal impulses of mid-twentieth century urban planning. Mattern approaches the subject with considerable analytical sophistication, basing her discussion on the theory that meaningful explanations of material culture should be derived from investigations into social forms. This book is a 'must read' text for anyone studying the modern library world, local cultural services, or the architecture of cultural institutions."-Alistair Matthew Black, University of Illinois
"Mattern is very informative. The book is attractive enough to be a magnet to draw people to its pages."-Desert Morning News
"New libraries are not obsolete book depositories draped in new architecture, they are evolving to meet the needs of the future from the inside out. Mattern successfully illustrates the complexity of library function and gives us hope for the institutions continued growth and legitimacy."-Spacing
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Minnesota
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8166-4896-2 (9780816648962)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Shannon Mattern is assistant professor of media studies and film at The New School.