Miguel Helft of the New York Times asks, "Is the tantalizing dream of a universal library dead?" (Published: April 3, 2011).

Is it? Maybe not.  In March of this year, a New York federal district court judge, Denny Chin (now sitting as a judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit), acknowledged that “the creation of a universal digital library (by Google) would benefit many,” but said that the proposed agreement (by Google) was “not fair, adequate and reasonable.” because, "it would have granted Google a “de facto monopoly” and the right to profit from books without the permission of copyright owners". NYT 22 March 2011

There are those who do want to have a universal digital library - without commercial advertisers.  Europe is already far ahead of the United States in an effort to digitize information to be read in a commercial free web site, Europeana, Europeana that already has some 15 million "works of art, books, music and video held by the cultural institutions of member countries".

"Unlike in Europe, where national libraries are usually centralized and backed by governments, the United States has a disparate network of independent institutions that have different missions and serve different populations", and is playing catch up in this field.

"...the settlement (with Google that) was rejected in federal court last month, in part because it turned copyright law on its head, giving Google the right to profit from a book unless its author or publisher objected. This was a particular problem for “orphan books,” out of print titles whose authors and publishers cannot be easily found. Since no one else would be able to obtain a license to those books, Google would have a de facto monopoly on millions of texts.

The digital public library will face the same problem" NYT 3 April 2011

No matter what happens, who does it or how fast this project evolves, the affect on our libraries as we know them will be profound.  I suggest that we will be well placed in our communities when we plan properly for and develop spaces for people to read and be together in our libraries.  The delivery system for knowledge and information will change but we humans will always seek each other out for company and discourse.  Libraries are already here and changing to meet these human needs.

This is one beautiful library! Whistler Public Library

Respect for the surrounding landscape, the natural environment and the needs of the community (it has showers for bicycle and cross country ski commuters) has produced a stunning and ecologically efficient library design. 

Although I have not experienced the library myself, it looks like one that I would want to be in and appreciate - right up to it's grassed roof.

Check out this site and the photos.  Hughes Condon Marler Architects

You'll want to ski and hike and read all at once.

photos: Hughes Condon Marler Architects.

Can you read a map? Can you find your way back out of a building that you are visiting for the first time?  

Wayfinding is not a skill all of us possess to the same degree.  For instance, I 'see' a building in 3-D; I know that restrooms are usually placed in a building's core - find the elevator - find the restroom. It's a snap.  For me.

Not everyone has this training or 'view'.  We all navigate through the streets and corridors of our days in whatever manner that serves us well and gets us to that important meeting, the elevator, the restroom - the exit!

I am a strong advocate for a clear architectural design that allows the occupants to navigate through a building easily and safely.  I believe that good design is simple and logical design. 

It seems cognitive scientist, Laura Carlson at the University of Notre Dame can back up my 'instinctual' practice with cold hard fact. Laura Carlson, Notre Dame I love it when that happens! She is "figuring out how we can stay un-lost" ...(when we figure out how to get where we want to go.)

WIRED magazine WIRED.com has a short piece about her work (April 2011, pg.38) written by Katherine Gammon.  Check it out.  Ms. Carlson points to various strategies we can use to  find our way through our built environment. We form pictures in our minds of the building and our route or we use a mental bird's eye view.  We navigate by paying attention to objects so we can use them to retrace our steps.  We 'fix' images of objects or intersections in our minds so that we can construct our mind's eye map.

This quote from her work best sums up my approach to design.  I thank her for it.  "If you see handwritten signs pointing you to an exit, that's a good indicator that it's not a well designed building."

When you are designing your library renovation or addition, keep this in mind.  Ask your designer how easily your patrons can find what they are looking for in your library.