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| Layout ideas for the new library as suggested by youngsters in the community. |
The home of the new Downtown
Eastside/Strathcona Library will be located at 720-730 E. Hastings St, just
east of Healtley. A joint project
between the Vancouver Public Library (VPL), the YWCA and the City of Vancouver,
the 5 to 6 story building will contain both a new branch of the VPL and
approximately 20 units of YWCA social housing for single mothers and their
children.
Over the past few years,
consultations have been held in the Downtown Eastside and Strathcona community
to generate ideas around what the new library should look like and offer. Beth Davies, Project Manager for the new
library, says the feedback clearly communicates that residents want the library
to “be a vibrant community meeting space and not just a warehouse for
books.” This means a library space that is flexible,
animated, and transformative throughout its main parts.
So far, the pre-layout for
the library has been decided upon. This means that all the space sizes for
facilitating what needs to happen in the library—from the space needed to store
cleaning supplies to the space needed to house a children’s collection--have
been established. Now, the planning team
is working with architects on designing concepts around the actual physical
structure of the library.
Key points raised by
community members during the consultations (outlined below) are significantly
informing this planning process. The
result is that the Downtown Eastside/Strathcona Library will be quite different
from its sister branches around the city.
More Public Meeting Space:
In most VPL branches, there is usually one meeting
room for public use. In the new Downtown Eastside/Strathcona Library, by
contrast, there will be a wide variety of public meeting spaces including a
large room containing 75 seats, another with 30 seats, as well as two smaller meeting rooms.
More Access to Computers:
The new library will have around 40 public
access computers. Given the regular
changes in technology over time and in the way that people use technology (e.g.
librarians at the Carnegie Library have noted an increase in laptop users over
the past few years), the kind of
computer technology available in the new library will be decided upon closer to
the completion date.
A Library Full of Local
Stories: Access to technology
and workshops for creating both digital stories and printed texts such as chapbooks will help to create a library that is full
of stories by and about its community members. The library will also display the
work of local artists.
Rich Language Collection:
The Downtown Eastside/Strathcona
Library will contain a strong Chinese language collection, as well as extensive
resources in Spanish and Vietnamese. The
new library also aims to house a rich Aboriginal language collection in a
clearly defined space that honours Aboriginal ways of sharing, learning, and
being.
Library as a Community
Gathering Place: The focus of the new library, overall, will be more towards
people and less towards ‘things’. “This means less materials than in other
branches, and instead more seating and space for community programming”, Beth
Davies explains. Recognizing the importance
of providing people with quiet spaces, the planners are working towards including
places for silent reading and study.
A Creation Space:
This will be a 300
square foot space where people can make things-- through technology! Exactly
what will be created in this space, however, has yet to be decided. Will it be
used for sound and music recording? Publishing of digital stories and chap
books? Photography creation and editing? Skype? Language learning? And overall,
will it be a more private or collaborative creation space? The library planning
team is interested in hearing further feedback from the community about uses
for this space, and suggestions can be sent to beth.davies@vpl.ca.
Kitchen Space: Community members emphasized the
importance of food and sharing food with others. While the new library will be
unable to accommodate a community kitchen due to regulations around building
design and lack of space capacity, there will be a kitchen space that community
programs can use to assemble, store, and serve food. The exact layout for this
kitchen has yet to be decided.
Having a pool and a garden
in the new library was also suggested by community members. Although the new
library will be unable to include these two features, the planning team is
exploring how to incorporate nature and natural light into the design of the
library.
Beth Davies estimates at this point
in time that the library will open to the public at the start of 2015. Presently, the new library is being referred to as the Downtown
Eastside/Strathcona branch; the Library Board however recently approved a
naming process that involves community suggestions for the final name. Look out
for opportunities to be involved in suggesting a name in early 2013.
And what will then happen
to the current Carnegie and Strathcona VPL branches? Strathcona will transition
into a school library servicing Strathcona Elementary School with all of its
current children’s collection remaining on-site. As for the Carnegie Library, it will be
business as usual!
