Safe Spaces

We moved to the hotel in Delft on the 8th of July. I was feeling pretty good that day, so I was optimistic that I would be feeling good for the rest of the trip. It was sort of a crazy morning with everyone moving out at once, and on more than a few occasions I was fairly sure someone was going to get dragged unwillingly down the stairs by their overly huge suitcase, but I worried for nothing. Everyone moved out in remarkably orderly fashion. My group went last, and it was relatively small. It was nice to sit and talk with everyone in the dining area. Scott, our tallest classmate took some time to straighten out things on the chandelier in the dining area without the aid of a ladder or chair, (we were all rather impressed) and we said goodbye to the owner and staff. The trip to Delft itself wasn’t bad, however I am afraid I overdid it on the way there. I got to go to one site visit on the following Monday, and then I was sick all over again, complete with high fever. 

The one site visit was to see the National Library of the Netherlands, aka Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB). I have to admit to not really understanding how we were going to get into the building because it seemed to be buried among other buildings, and on the outside it was an unassuming neutral white. In short, it really did not outwardly represent itself as a library. Once we got inside, it became evident that what it lacked on the outside, flourished on the inside with bright open spaces, inviting work areas, and gave multiple nods to pieces of the library’s past and to the current transition under way from hardcopy records to digital formats. A portion of a card catalog still sits on one of the floors, in a side room sit old school microfiche machines to view old newspapers, and wall sculpture pays homage to the original National Library building. It was a very comfortable space.

I think what really made this trip memorable was getting the lecture from Erik Boekesteijn, as he gave us a tour of what innovation really looks like, because I think he pretty much embodied ever single innovator type from the Ten Faces book. He was all of them at once, and perhaps a bit of a white knight, champion of making libraries and other public entities step out of their comfort zone. Granted it was scare tactics, but honestly sometimes there is no other choice. Having taken a class with Rolf this past spring on community engagement made this talk a really nice companion to that class. More so when it became apparent that they had worked together on DOK1 in Aarhus, Denmark. Trying to imagine these two working together on a project inspires visions of fantastic ideas flying in every direction. 

As Erik spoke about the innovative spaces, it made me think of some community response papers I had seen while taking David Hendry’s class on design thinking. The pubic had been asked to think of their perfect library, and then draw it with explanations on the side. What is needed in a library? I am not sure what the initial project was for this feedback, but we used them for in class exercises. None of the responses I saw looked anything like a library currently out there, except perhaps DOK1 comes close. People wanted more from a library than just books, and it showed, with people asking for sleeping spaces, gaming rooms, meeting spaces for the public, garden areas or heavily planted interiors. But most of all, they wanted large open spaces, with lots of light, and plant life. Books were always on the list, but in a secondary capacity. The focus was much more on an inviting space, rather than focus on the books or learning materials. What it really came down to was safe space in which you could do anything you needed to, or wanted to. 

Safe space. I have to wonder when the public view of the library changed from a place to gain information or read a book, to a place that was a safe space. This also came up at a seminar I was at for children’s activities and other elements of running a good children’s library section. I can no longer remember her name, but the very first things she said was that if children didn’t feel safe in the space you had already lost them. As an example, she spoke of being in charge of a branch library in Oakland, CA. That’s a fairly tough area, high crime, lots of tension. She said every morning during the summer she’d walk past basketball courts behind the high school next to her branch, and she’d wave at the kids playing basketball. They never waved back, but watched he walk past. October 17th, 1989 rolls around, and she and her staff are getting ready to close up and there are a couple of patrons looking for books, when a 7.2 earthquake hits. The lights go out in the library and all anyone can here is things crashing to the floor, car alarms going on and the city emergency siren. When the shaking stops, she and her staff go to make sure everyone is okay, and discover that they not only have the couple of patrons still there, but all the kids from the basketball court there too. Those kids ran to a safe place. The library. A safe space. As a librarian we’re looking at our library as a book collection that serves the public. From the public standpoint, libraries are so much more than that. It’s something to keep in mind when someone wants to try something outrageous with a library and the staff are freaking out about it because it would not be traditional. I suspect that the public is more than willing to give the library some leeway.

So, in short, Erik’s talk reaffirmed a lot of things I had always thought true along my time as a library manager. Just make sure, first and foremost, that whatever space you make it safe space. Don’t be afraid to go big with something, although if you’re on a tight budget be careful with that. But as libraries move into a future were they will almost certainly be expected to do things that never entered the minds of a librarian, I suspect going large on something is going to become a normal event. Something never before seen in libraries to meet a need. It is something to think about. 

Meermano Museum -

By the time we left the KB, I wasn’t feeling my best. Mostly because I was worn out I think so unfortunately my attention for this museum was not the best. Sorry! We ventured out after lunch to the Meermano museum, which houses very old books, printing presses and type sets for some of the books in the collection, and what I think might be considered something of a cabinet of curiosities given the eclectic nature of the non-book collection. The book collection was exquisite and I would have liked a lot more time to explore it with the curator, but I suspect we were on a schedule. I also would have liked to have been feeling better because I had a difficult time paying attention. 

I remember the curator, whose name escapes me at the moment, talking about the paintings, Roman, Greek and Egyptian objects and what to do with them because the building was not properly equipped to store such items without causing decay. It was quite warm in that room, and I could understand his concern. If you don’t have the money to install climate control systems, then what do you do? It’s a good question. Especially in the Netherlands with the high humidity and the very weird weather patterns that are probably only going to get worse. Fragile things, such as the mummies of the cat and the child will not fair well. 

I as also not sure on some of the labeling for some of the objects in the museum area. One marked Greek appeared to be Minoan and a small statue that looked Assyrian was mixed in with Roman objects. Then again, I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I just happen to recognize certain aspects from ancient cultures. 

What really had my attention though, were the books, and being able to get so close to them, even if some were under glass. The ones that the fellow pulled out by Moore with the incredible attention to detail was amazing. I was going to ask for a closer look, but others had made requests for other items, and I decided not to ask. So amazing though. I had seen one or two books this old before while in Australia, which were copies of bibles or scripture like the ones he showed us in the beginning. That’s something I could spend days looking at. The rose garden was also lovely, even though it technically had nothing to do with the books and small museum collection of objects from ancient empires. But I very much appreciated the opportunity to sit outside and enjoy somewhat drippy weather and talk with new friends. 

I’ve only got one more post to go having to do with the DANS visit, and then I think I’m out of things to talk about. Hopefully will have the DANS post up tomorrow.