All booked up – The future of Baton Rouge libraries is (almost) now

If you ask a librarian for his list of favorite authors—and we did—you’d best be a patient listener.

Spencer Watts, the new director of public libraries in East Baton Rouge Parish, rattles off a list including writers of mystery, historical fiction, nonfiction and William Faulkner, of course, because, like Watts himself, Faulkner thinks in complex run-on sentences, delighting the reader (and listener) with language rich and robust.

If you ask Watts about our community’s vision for the new downtown library, scheduled to open in 2016, be prepared to settle in for a while.

Watts began his work officially in January, at a time when things had finally settled down for the River Center Branch. Its architects and site had been determined after some lengthy and highly public discussions. Every conceivable type of patron had been given the opportunity to share his or her vision for the branch, and they were happy to do so: people from business sectors, the arts, homeowners, nonprofits, the church, even folks who don’t ever use the library to begin with. What would they like to see? What would attract them?

For starters, books. We all want books, in the most emphatic way. Real books whose pages rustle, whose weight rests deliciously in our arms and on our bellies.

Don’t worry; there will still be plenty of those.

In each new library, there will remain traditional elements. Comfortable chairs. Story time. Quiet spaces for busy moms to sit and read for a spell. And helpful librarians.

“The best libraries are human-centered,” says Watts, and among our library system’s strengths is its customer service. Back when he was library director in Mobile, he recalls, it was a real fight to have just one branch open on Sundays. Other library systems brag about staying open until 7 p.m. Baton Rouge’s libraries are accessible, with numerous branches open late and every branch open on Sunday.

But we want more than this. More than what Watts describes as a “passive warehouse of ideas from the past.” Out of community involvement sessions, some commonalities emerged. We want space to collaborate, to create, to experiment. Our library visionaries not only heard this, but they cheered along. Our feedback validated their excited dreams.

Every library is, in some way, a reflection of its neighborhood, and the new River Center Branch will have some features that capitalize on its urban setting.

Because downtown is a visitor’s gateway, the library will play an important role in announcing and communicating who Baton Rouge is to those new to the city. Our library will show that we are poised for growth and have our collective eye on the future.

Plans call for the new downtown library to be saturated with technological innovations. There will be a Maker Space, a “fab lab” for patrons who want to create, making use of 3D printers and digital production equipment—maybe even a laser cutter.

People who only occasionally need expensive equipment will be able to use it here, as will consumers who want to try before they buy. There will be room to grow technologically as well. After all, who knows how quickly innovation will subside to relic?

Mary Stein, assistant director for the library system, points out that, paradoxically, the more we use technology, the more we want face-to–face interaction. Public meeting spaces, a café and a rooftop terrace all make sense downtown, where we gather so often. The spaces themselves are designed to be multi-functional and flexible, so that they can accommodate a wide range of needs, from those creating quilts to those creating digital projects

The library’s four floors will carve out spaces for group study, conferences and large meetings for up to 300 guests.

This evolving library system is one that caters to businesses and entrepreneurs.

There is still so much we don’t know about the future of libraries. And since libraries reflect their communities, by extension, we can agree there is much we don’t know yet about ourselves.

The new downtown branch ought to give us the space and the resources to find out.