Library Buildings around the World

Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON – Canada 1994
Awards:
Ontario Library Association 1996 Building Award for Best Academic Library Award
Libraries today are at the heart of a major transformation in teaching, learning and research on university campuses.
Fuelled by emerging technologies, changing student and faculty expectations and use patterns, changing teaching strategies
and evolving digital scholarship, libraries have changed dramatically as well. No longer ‘book warehouses’, libraries have
become centres for teaching, learning and research. While these changes have had a profound impact, our traditional
library strength of connecting people to information is still relevant today. In fact, it can be said that ‘twenty-first-century
fluencies’ (information fluency, numeracy, visual fluency, media fluency, scientific fluency and geospatial fluency) are
essential elements of a quality education in our flattened world. In order to be successful post-graduation, our students must
possess the skills necessary to access and use information – regardless of format – efficiently, effectively, legally and ethically.
Over the past two years the McMaster University libraries have undertaken a dramatic transformation from very
traditional academic library to innovative, user-centred partner in teaching, learning and research. It is an evolution that
most recently culminated in the receipt of the 2008 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Excellence in
Academic Libraries award, which we received in recognition of ‘a successful transformation from a traditional research
library to an innovative, user-centered library using technological advances to accomplish its goals’.1
Successful organisations are measured today, in part, by their ability to adapt to the changing needs and expectations of
their users. Adaptation requires a culture of risk-taking and innovation that encourages and rewards the radical rethinking
of library resources and services. The McMaster University community is recognised for its ability to lead by
reinterpreting/reinventing itself. The recent hiring of a new University Librarian and the hiring of eight new librarians
provided us with an opportunity to make some significant organisational changes to meet the needs of the twenty-first-
century academic library user.
( http://www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletter/44/2.rtf )
Carde Ten Architects, Santa Monica, CA – USA
http://www.cardeten.com
La Crescenta Montrose Library, CA, County of Los Angeles Public Library System - USA 2010
After years in the planning and building, the Crescenta Valley boasts a library that establishes a true town center.
By Mary O’Keefe
With a crowd of community members and public officials and the cutting of a ribbon, the La Crescenta Library was officially
opened last Friday, Jan. 29. “It is our hope that this library becomes the heart of this community,” said Margaret Donnellan Todd,
Los Angeles County Librarian. Although the community has been enjoying and using the library for the past few weeks, Friday’s
ceremony was a chance to thank those who had been supportive throughout the long process of designing and building the facility.
Todd thanked the many volunteers and the Friends of the La Crescenta Library and the La Crescenta Elementary Korean Parent
Club for their donations. “Libraries really do represent faith in the future,” Todd said. But faith is not enough; the effort required
funds, $14.5 million in fact, to complete. Todd thanked Supervisor Michael Antonovich for his leadership, the faith he had in the
project and finding the funding. The county stepped in with $13 million, Congressman David Dreier brought in $1.5 million and
$350,000 was found through the sale of surplus library property. Together the effort allowed the La Crescenta Library to grow from
4,300 square feet to 15,000 square feet. The facility was a community effort with community input, Antonovich said. He formed a
committee that oversaw the design, building and completion of the library. “The library is the crown jewel of [the committee’s] hard
work,” he said. “There were many meetings that took place.” He had praise for his staff for monitoring the funding that was set
aside for the building. “They made certain that the funds were not siphoned off like [what happens] to other funds in Sacramento,”
Antonovich said. The library’s design was the result of many, many discussions. “We had a lot of meetings with community and
library departments. We used local material and gave it a local ambience,” said Scott Carde, lead architect from Carde Ten
Architects. During the ribbon cutting ceremony Carde told the story how his mother made him read three books a week. At first this
was not something he enjoyed but soon came to love the assignment. He spent a lot of time at his local library. “Libraries are in fact
a magical place. They influence us. They animate us. They add to our lives in ways that are mysterious. Sometimes in a conscious
way, sometimes not,” he said. As visitors enter the library they will first notice the stained glass artwork that borders the front door.
Within the glass are hand drawn portraits of significant historical buildings in Crescenta Valley. The old school bell at La Crescenta
Elementary and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church are just some of the local landmarks represented. The artist, Timothy Gibbs of RD
Gibbs & Co. in the Glendale/Montrose area, grew up in the community. It was his task to bring the feel of La Crescenta to the
stained glass medium. “This is the old La Crescenta Woman’s Club,” he said as he pointed to a stained glass drawing. Gibbs has
been working with glass for about 30 years. He said he liked the colors that play with the light as it streams through the doors. From
design to completion, though, takes a long time. “It is time consuming. We have to carefully plan and do a lot of research,” he said.
“But I am pleased with the results.” Murals adorn the walls of the library. Artist Evan Wilson was chosen by the committee to paint
the murals in both the adult and the children sections of the library. “I wanted to give a feeling of history,” Wilson said as he stood in
front of the murals of a woman with her hand reaching to the sky and another of a man resting in the foothills. “The original plan
was not to have any people [depicted in the mural] but at some point that changed,” he said. The man and woman are symbolic of
people who contribute to knowledge, he said. Symbols that border the top edges of the walls represent free flowing knowledge. Evans
said the process of creating this type of work is difficult in the beginning because he was looking at black and white technical
drawings. “It is hard to get the feel of the building [at first],” he said. But he worked closely with the architect and incorporated the
Craftsman style of the building into this artwork. Artists Geri and William Gould were responsible for creating the bronze plaque
installed in the foyer floor of the building. William was raised in La Crescenta and Geri is a descendant of the local Indians, the
Tongvas. Their artwork has been displayed in the Smithsonian and the Vatican. The library’s medallion is a star-compose
overlaying a circle with symbols of the three ages in the center. The Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley commissioned it. The
piece depicts the history of Crescenta Valley by highlighting three ages of human habitation set with the background of the San
Gabriel Mountains. Toypurina, shaman of the local tribes, represents the Native American period. Don Jose Verdugo represents the
Spanish period and the father of modern La Crescenta, Dr. Benjamin Briggs, represents the American era. In a ceremony that
followed the ribbon cutting, descendents of each of the three ages were honored. (http://www.crescentavalleyweekly.com)
Sorensen Library, Sorensen Park, CA, County of Los Angeles Public Library – USA 2010
Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina today announced the Sorensen Library, 11405 E. Rose Hedge Dr., Whittier will be
closed from November 27, 2008 to summer 2010 for construction of a new, larger facility. “The new facility will be the County’s
newest eco-friendly ’green’ library,” said Molina. The community and the Friends of Sorensen Library were a part of the planning
of the new library and we look forward to celebrating its reopening with a bigger and nicer facility in the summer of 2010.”
The new 10,655 square foot library will replace the existing 1,048 square - foot facility. It will be part of the County’s Sustainable
Design Implementation Program, which uses the LEED-New Construction rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building
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