Building Literacy: Public Library Construction
Building Literacy: Public Library Construction
Transformational Impact 4: Flexibility
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The fourth in a series on transformational impact, this episode focuses on how flexibility of spaces has allowed the six new libraries to adapt to changing needs or circumstances. Hear library administrators from urban, suburban, and rural libraries discuss how they can reconfigure their library, utilize spaces in various ways, and be able to say yes to services and programming.
Welcome to the Building Literacy: Public Library Construction podcast, which is brought to you by the library building specialists at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. I am Andrea Bono-Bunker, and I'm joined by my colleague, Lauren Stara. A befitting end to Lauren's decade long legacy before her retirement, we are bringing you the fourth of seven bite-sized episodes that capture the transformational impact of six new libraries via the words of their directors and assistant directors. This episode focuses on how flexibility of spaces has allowed the libraries to adapt to changing needs or circumstances. We welcome our panel of dedicated library administrators from across the Commonwealth who represent urban, suburban, and rural libraries. Thank you so much for joining us. Let's begin with introductions.
Lauren Stara:I'm Lauren. I am the library building consultant for the MBLC.
Celeste Bruno:I'm Celeste Bruno, communications director at the MBLC.
Mark Makuc:Hi, I'm Mark Makuc. I'm the director of the Monterey Library.
Patrick Borezo:Patrick Brazeau, director of the Hadley Public Library.
Rachel Breen:I'm Rachel Breen, and I'm the director of the Norwell Public Library.
Barbara Kerr:I'm Barbara Kerr, I'm the director of the Medford Public Library.
Jean Canosa Albano:Jean Canosa Albano, the assistant director at the Springfield City Library.
Hermayne Gordon:My name is Hermayne Gordon, and I'm the director at the Woburn Public Library.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:Thank you all, again, for joining us. So let's just jump right into today's topic. How has flexibility of spaces allowed you to adapt to changing needs or circumstances? Mark, what have you been seeing in Monterey?
Mark Makuc:Well, I'm going to start with the story that you alluded to earlier when the MBLC had their meeting on Thursday morning. And it happened to be the same day as the Parkinson's group. And the Parkinson's group was more than happy to change their date. And I said, "No, it doesn't seem to be that there should be a conflict here." But who knew that banned books were going to be such a big discussion, and the MBLC meeting ran longer than anyone could have anticipated. And the Parkinson's people are showing up, and I felt badly. But it was very simple. We went into the stacks. We moved about 12 of the rolling shelves, wheeled out some chairs. They had their meeting. The MBLC continued to discuss what they needed to discuss. And both of those meetings ended, and within a few minutes, we had to turn everything back to open up for the library so that the children could have their section back, and the Finance Committee needed the meeting room back, and it was a little chaotic. We don't go through that every day. But it certainly all worked out very well. And rolling shelves really made the difference. Everybody was happy in the end.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:Thank you for accommodating us during that very long meeting. But it was wonderful to see the library be able to adapt so well. And that's what that's for, so that you can do that. And I'm sure there are many people who would think well, a library in a community that has- your population's around 900, just under 1000- how often would they need to be doing that, but there's a case in point. It is fantastic that you're able to accommodate everyone within your facility.
Lauren Stara:And I would say that when the library is the only public space in town, it might happen more than you might think.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:Exactly.
Lauren Stara:Yeah.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:Patrick, what have you been seeing in Hadley?
Patrick Borezo:You know, I actually kind of was struggling with this question as I was thinking about it yesterday in preparation for this. And I think, kind of piggybacking on what Mark was saying, I almost feel like when we were in the old building, it was almost a constant fact of life that we were in a cramped space. And that was when we were constantly having to move things around and try to figure out how to provide those types of services and programming that we knew that we wanted to do and knew that we could do but we were just so constrained by space. And I feel like in the new library, obviously, the pandemic is a great example. I mean, I don't know how we would have provided service in the old library during the pandemic, when we had to reopen. It would have been kind of nightmarish, to be honest. We were able to adapt pretty well, and the staff were able to feel secure and safe providing service in a larger space with better ventilation and all of that. But as far as the flexibility goes, like I feel like we're still too early. I feel like we haven't been in the space long enough to know what needs to change to know what we would do differently. Because I feel like the community is still discovering it and still growing into it. You know, we are actually starting to work on updating our long range plan. And I think getting community feedback is going to help us figure out what we could do better and what could be improved. Because right now from the way I see it, it's just like this is such a drastic improvement over what we were dealing with before that it's hard to know where to focus our energy on those improvements.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:And what I find interesting, too, when we did our post occupancy visit you were talking about how spaces in the children's room, you're still not settled with how you're going to use certain spaces but you're prototyping, and you're trying things out. And you have the space in which to be able to do that. And I would also say your children's storytime craft area doubling as the play space, that area where caregivers and children can be and just engage in play and conversation, the fact that that room is open and flexible for any time of day is just amazing.
Patrick Borezo:Absolutely, I feel like that's something that we got right right off the bat. But there are other spaces in the library where we kind of look at them and go, "This feels like a sort of undefined space, it could be put to better use, but we're not clear on how or what to do quite yet." And so I think that's where we're hoping the feedback will help to inform that. You know, one of the things that in retrospect, all of the small meeting rooms, as you were saying, you can never have enough study rooms, the room that we have, which is a small conference room that holds about, I guess six or eight, is in such demand that if we had known that, I mean, we could have easily justified having three or four similar rooms or slightly smaller rooms for individuals or groups of three to four. I wish we had. Who could have known? But that's something that I wish that we could get more space for that. So that's one thing that we probably will focus on and carving out more for that.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:And what's interesting about these newer buildings, too, though, you have space in which you could put in pods if you needed to, or adjust as things go along. And it's great to hear that you're having those conversations with your community about what they need and then also noticing what's in demand so that you can make those changes as you move along in the lifespan of the building. Rachel, what have you been seeing in Norwell?
Rachel Breen:So having spaces that are, you know, multifunctional has been extremely beneficial for us. Having the ability to change and alter spaces based on patron need, you know, has provided us more opportunities to try new things. We have multiple spaces in the library that we utilize for many different purposes. For example, our children's studio is used for storytime, other programs, as a craft space, and, you know, even at times, it's a quiet study space for students to do homework. Our Children's Study Room functions as a study and tutoring space. It functions as a nursing room or as a calming room for kids. Our MakerSpace- we call it our workshop- functions as our MakerSpace, it's a meeting room space, and it's a teen and adult programming space as well. And now similarly, our local history room is utilized for research purposes or even as conference or meeting room for smaller groups. So it's been great to have spaces that can adapt to our different needs, definitely.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:And that's fantastic. And that reminds me we did a podcast episode with the New Canaan Library in Connecticut. Mostly we started off because they did a Design for Freedom initiative, which was to eradicate slave labor and forced labor in the supply chain for construction. But they were talking about their spaces and how they look at it almost like collections. And when we talk about books and weeding, each material needs to earn its keep on that shelf, right? It needs to earn it space, and how all of those spaces within the library should be utilized in all different ways at all different times of the day and evening. And so that's wonderful to hear that Norwell is attaining that. Barbara, how has the flexibility of spaces allowed you to adapt to changing needs or circumstances in Medford? That's amazing.
Barbara Kerr:it's just so nice to have rooms to just have rooms to have more than one room. Because we used to have, everything was in one room. So if there was a teen program, for the next month, everybody was covered in glitter. And now they have their own room, and they have several rooms. And we're able to have multiple programs going on at the same time. And if we have something, I think we had the National Archives guy come, and we wanted to have him do his presentation in the big room. But Mrs. Marjorie Tiven Bloomberg, who was our benefactor, she wanted to have a dinner. So they set up the children's programming room so it looked like you're going to a wedding. But in the previous building, we would never have had that capability. When we had trivia night, people were sitting like in the teen section and in periodicals, and you had to use the floor of the library. But now, we actually have spaces that you can use for many different things, but you're not in the body of the library anymore. And it's delightful. And a little scary. But you should have seen that room. It just looked like enh. We probably won't do that again. But if we need to, someone could have a wedding in the children's program room.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:I hope you made good use of the trees. If no one knows Medford has these amazing, unique designs for them trees in their children's space. And that's changing all the time, right? So you're able to hang different things on them and use them for different things. They're amazing. So if you haven't been there to see them, you should look at them. They're great. And Jean, how has the flexibility of spaces allowed you to adapt to changing needs or circumstances in Springfield?
Jean Canosa Albano:So at the East Forest Park branch library, we have three small study rooms built in. And that has been so helpful because the demand, as we keep hearing, for community meeting space is so high. And sometimes we would find people looking to book a community room which might seat anywhere from 15 people to 100 people for a meeting of two people. And that really takes a lot of real estate, so to speak, off the table for other library programs or other community groups that need more seats or space. So that has been great. We have many more places to offer up for the public to use. You know flexibility of spaces also, for us, includes an outdoor area. While we were recovering from the height of the pandemic, there were groups that would book our patio that has a beautiful, overhanging pergola. And they would use that for their meetings, come up with their lawn chairs, and either sit on the cement benches that frame the patio or use those lawn chairs for a meeting, and they could choose to distance more. And so that was another way that this outdoor space that we built thinking, Oh, it'd be great to do concerts here. Or people could just stop by here and tap into the Wi Fi, it became another living room, so to speak, that folks could book and use for their meetings. So trying to think about using spaces in different ways. It's been really important. That's the space that we used for one of the Summer Reading Club kickoff's collaboration with the Bruins, the Thunderbirds, and the MBLC.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:Yes, that was so fun. And it's just great to see the flexibility of the outdoor spaces, too. And that's something that we're focusing on more now as a pandemic lesson to have those spaces available. I know Medford, you know, even though you are in a very tight spot in a city, you still have an outdoor space that's utilized and beautiful.
Barbara Kerr:And no one stole the chairs, which we were expecting would happen within six months. So, the chairs are still all there.
Jean Canosa Albano:Can I give a shout out also, Andrea? Part of the funding for that outdoor space at Springfield's East Forest Park branch came from our local Community Preservation Act committee. Because one of the ways that they can spend that funding is on creating outdoor recreational use space- creating or enhancing. And they certainly saw the value in that. And so if a library's listening to this and thinking about piecing money together, if your town or city participates in that program, they may find that as another funding source,
Andrea Bono-Bunker:Yes. And so Medford, Springfield, and Hadley all have outdoor spaces that are on the ground next to the libraries, but Monterey and Norwell, you have porches and decks that are part of your buildings. And well, I know Mark, you already alluded to this, because you were talking about people having meetings out on your deck. But Rachel, I didn't know if you wanted to say anything about your porches and your decks.
Rachel Breen:Our patrons are obsessed with our porches. We have a large outdoor porch that's not screened in. but we also have a second porch that is screened in, and they are just utilized all day. It's been great. I mentioned earlier how we've been getting the influx of teens after school and it has been a favorite spot for them just to set up shop to do homework and socialize. So they are very popular with the community. Definitely.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:In Woburn, Hermayne, how has flexibility of spaces allowed you to adapt to changing needs or circumstances?
Hermayne Gordon:So that is a very good question. And I have to say that in the planning of the building, which I wasn't a part of, I think the fact that it was designed for the spaces to be flexible is very key to the services we can offer. Because you know, for example, we can move our shelving around and create a space if we needed to. And then we have a lot of spaces, like, for example, on the mezzanine that was originally comfortable seating, now it's prime time study space. We've added study carrels, and that's actually reverting back to what I said earlier. Coming out to the pandemic, we have a lot more people who want to, you know, study in a library, work from the library. And so we realized that that was what's needed. And so because of the way it was set up, we were able to, you know, purchase those and put those in. So also in the children's room, there's the possibility of moving shelving around. Let's say you wanted to have a large program in there, but the program room something else was happening in there, we could convert the space. So the space is very convertible. We haven't had to use it as much, but I tell the staff all the time, we can do this if you need to. And so I think that was a good thing that happened during planning.
Andrea Bono-Bunker:For all of the reasons that you've shared and for other reasons as well. Flexibility is really the cornerstone of library design each one of you and habits a library that was designed before the pandemic, and it is a true testament of how adaptable spaces can effectively respond to evolving needs. And speaking of adapting, in our next episode, we explore another key consideration when designing a library, which is sustainability and resilience. Again, thank you to all of you for sharing your stories. And thank you to everyone who's tuning in. We hope you'll join us for our next bite-sized episode on transformational impact. Until next time!