We need to re-make a “Place” for our Harare City “Public” Library

A Public Library can be (and in many cases are) powerful spaces for exchange, creation, and development.

At Harare City Library we are focusing in 2013 on renovation and repair. 

So,how does the look and feel affect how the library is used?

The library as brick and mortar is quite often the object of affection. 

People talk about libraries as beautiful and many are: marble-laden breezeways, Corinthian columns, dark-wooden bookcases housing centuries of knowledge. Our own lovely library has an amazing history. A book by one Peter Jackson persists on the shelf of my friend Jacquie Borland. I took a picture of the book cover and two fascinating pictures of what our library used to be before it was knocked down to make way for the new, sometime in the 1960's. Fascinating, arn't they. And quite the awesome structures! Imagine , knocking this down for concrete? 

C'est la vie. 

Beautiful, yes. But are they places to take a class on financial management, to meet with colleagues, or to apply for government services? You certainly don’t see many computers.

Let’s think about creating (or rethinking) the space of the modern library. Which changes would you make to our own public library’s space? Fewer walls? More breakout space? More study space? Mobile services? I have visited the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) website, which is a non-profit that provides planning, design, educational, and organizational services that aim to help “people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities.” They say- 

• There is a relationship between the panning, design and management of a public library and community engagement.  No point in just fawning over the opulence of the world’s most iconic libraries, our library in Harare is indeed an award winner but it needs also to be a space that facilitates a diverse range of activities. Or what’s the point??? The only way that this can really happen effectively, is with input from the community. Engagement begets engagement. GET INVOLVED!
• Local government and communities must work together to create durable, yet flexible, community spaces. Oh this is so our bug bear! New or revamped library structures are not enough to tackle a city’s most pressing issues.  Our City Fathers must actually put some money where their mouths are (or maybe divert a little from the petrol tanks attached to their large V6 pothole dodging vehicles). At least for running costs, surely. LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE IS EVERYTHING!

The real beauty of a library rests in how the community continually reinvents the space.

Why reinvent the wheel, when some clued up specialists at ‘Beyond Access’ have already said it! This blog is adapted from a recent Beyond Access article: beyondaccess.net/blog/2013/04/19/making-place-for-public-libraries/