Silver Spring’s new library should be bigger and stay open later than previously proposed, MoCo’s top librarian told Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board.
“We need to get the building right,” Parker Hamilton, the libraries department chief, said Monday night at the board’s monthly meeting in Lyttonsville. “But we also have to have the hours right.”
Originally, the plan was to build a 34,000 square-foot library at Fenton and Bonifant Streets to replace the 15,000 square-foot book hut on Colesville Road. But Hamilton said the new joint could exceed 52,000 square feet, once a media room, extra space in the adult and kiddie reading areas, and more tutoring rooms are thrown into the mix.
The additional space also will be needed for all those damned books, including larger collections of kid lit, Spanish- and French-language lit, and business books. “Silver Spring needs everything, because the demographics are so diverse,” Hamilton said.
But making the new Silver Spring library bigger doesn’t mean jack if the hours don’t fit into people’s schedules, Hamilton argued. For example, the slick Rockville library misses out on a lot of action because it opens at 9:30 a.m., while most county employees there start their days at 8:00 a.m., she said. Silver Spring’s book hut opens at 10:00 a.m. and closes at 9:00 p.m. during the week.
Instead, Hamilton said Silver Spring’s new spot should remain open until 10:00 p.m. to stick with its urban setting. And don’t even think about closing some library sections or floors early to operate on the cheap, she said. A union contract with county librarians requires two people to staff each floor of a library, whether that floor is open or not.
“When the library’s open, the library’s open,” Hamilton argued. “If you want to be responsive to the community, at least talk about [later hours].”
Of course, keeping the lights on longer will take more staffing (read: more money), something that the Rockville library doesn’t have, Hamilton said. She then asked the advisory board to show a little love for the library when the county’s operating budget comes under review.
Despite Hamilton’s suggestions, advisory board chairperson Darian Unger still sweated the new library’s size. The hood’s demographics hadn’t been fully examined, he said, and cramming all that cool new stuff into the plans would make the new spot tight (and not tizzight tight).
The libraries department should have a better grip on the game plan before the end of this week, and it’ll pitch its design at MoCo exec Ike Leggett by mid November, Hamilton said.
Photo: Phat stacks at some library, courtesy of Flickr user Luis de Bethencourt.
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“Book hut”? “All those damned books”? Seriously?
Re: Book hut, our existing library is tiny, hence the need for a larger one.
Re: Damned books, they would go into the library, along with the fucking computers and maybe — just maybe — a working copier.
Damn, Jennifer has issues with the library. That’s OK because I HATE the Silver Spring library. The stack collections are piss poor; I have to haul my butt up to the Rockville or Wheaton locations to find a greater selection of political and economics books. No, I don’t want to do an inter-library loan thing. If I want to check out a book…I want it NOW.
Plus, the Silver Spring library has that smell. The stench of book pages aging from a crisp white to a rumply yellow. It doesn’t help that there is NO air conditioning in the middle of 90 degree summer days either.
I hope it’s a beautiful civic building that all of Silver Spring can be proud of. The public space ought to be oriented towards Fenton Village with the main entrance off of Fenton. It should incorporate clearstories with operable windows to get natural breezes through it so no one has to suffer when the AC goes down too.
“A union contract with county librarians requires two people to staff each floor of a library, whether that floor is open or not.”
That sentence explains perfectly what is wrong with the People’s Republic of Montgomery County.
“what is wrong with the People’s Republic of Montgomery County.”
Have you travelled around this beautiful country?
yeah, it’s all those damned books that cause problems. If they could just reduce the sheer number of them, there would be more space for the teenagers to socialize. And the librarians wouldnt have to explain catalog entries that disappeared years ago, or miscategorized, or misspelled. Or even put them in the incorrect place on the shelves. They could concentrate on getting more of them cheap ass horror DVDs and profane rap CDs to entertain us. Those damned books would explain the downward trend in service for several years. Hey, maybe someone could actually work on the network server and get it up to decent speed.
Just for the record, my reference to “damned books” was said in sarcasm. Actually, I like books and newspapers.
Be straight with me, people: Should I nix the humor and just write straight Associated Press-styled news? Let me know.
Jennifer,
At times, your writing style can be confusing. Are you reporting or are you editorializing? You do both in some articles. I don’t know. It’s your blog and you can do whatever you want.
I suggest separating the news reporting and editorial comments. Just like any other news publication, you can add an editorial section. However, I like the curse words! Gotta keep it real.
Editor’s note: Thanks, IHY. I appreciate your candor. I’ll work out a system soon. — JD (Oct 15, 2008)
I don’t know the details of the union contract, but having worked in public libraries and having some sense of what the Silver Spring’s usage statistics are probably like (and what they’ll be like when the facility is expanded and moved to a more centralized location), asking for two staff people per floor is not an unrealistic expectation at all. If people think that the library needs improvements to its collection and services, then demanding that the library operate with less staff isn’t the answer.
Yay for more damned books! Book Hut is more of an accuracy than a joke. I was recently in search of 2001: A Space Odyssey, arguably Arthur C. Clark’s most important work. It was in the catalog, but I couldn’t find it. After searching with a Library employee for almost ten minutes, he discovered that the last checkout date was sometime in 2003. Five years had gone by without a single person checking out a science fiction staple! He marked it as missing.
Their media section is also miserable. Moving from Howard County, I missed their DVD selection that rivaled Blockbuster. Everything from Star Trek to Friends to The Sopranos.
As for Jennifer’s humor style, I see it as easily distinguished satire, and I appreciate her editorial style of reporting. She presents the facts. With an edge. She may be unfair and imbalanced, but that’s how I like my news.
Editor’s note: If “imbalanced” is what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place! Thanks for the support, Jimmy! — JD (Oct 15, 2008)
Yay for this damned blog!
@nosestuckinabook: It’s reasonable to require adequate staffing for a part of the library that is OPEN. It’s not reasonable to require staffing even for those areas of the library that are CLOSED!
‘As for Jennifer’s humor style, I see it as easily distinguished satire, and I appreciate her editorial style of reporting. She presents the facts. With an edge. She may be unfair and imbalanced, but that’s how I like my news.’
That goes double for me. Keep up the good work Jennifer.
Editor’s note: Thanks, SoCo! Don’t mean to take away from the library conversation, so if anyone’s got love/hate/indifference for my writing style, hit me with an email. Your feedback helps me serve you better. — JD (Oct 15, 2008)
Actually, David, it is: just because part of a library is closed doesn’t mean that there still aren’t librarians and library staff working in it. It’s not just the folks who check out materials at the desk or answer questions at the reference desk; there’s quite a bit of behind-the-scene work to be done in libraries.
More books in the new library. And periodicals! Lots of periodicals. Rooms of newspapers and journals would make me so happy.
I like the computer system though that they use here, where it cues up people and whatnot (like in the deli line!). My (much bigger much fancier) library before I moved here from Tennessee did not have anything like that, and I always got stuck behind some kids f’ing around on myspace for forever when all I wanted to do was use the catalog.
‘As for Jennifer’s humor style, I see it as easily distinguished satire, and I appreciate her editorial style of reporting. She presents the facts. With an edge. She may be unfair and imbalanced, but that’s how I like my news.’
I second – uh, third this motion.
And calling the current Silver Spring library a book hut is probably an insult to huts. I can’t remember the last time they had anything I needed. Oh wait, I can – it was some volume of Harry Potter or other. At least they noticed they should have a few copies of that!
Thanks to all for your feedback. Don’t want to take away from the library conversation, so if anyone’s got constructive criticism, accolades or indifference for my writing, hit me with an email. It all goes towards making The Penguin work better for everyone.
Back to the library discussion … I’m not sure if the libraries department is still taking suggestions for library programs and collections, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to send them your wish list. Holler at them through this site.
Yup, a library is about books and periodicals. In this USA generally, and certainly in this area, we lack public space. I hope the notion of “retail” will come to mean more than stores to buy stuff in. I will elaborate more on this later.
Meanwhile, I worry about all the other stuff people are tying to hitch to the library. The notion that the library should acommodate a Purple Line stop is my biggest worry — that could spur waves of rezoning that would wipe out houses, small apartment buildings, trees, and small businesses in a half-mile radius.
Somewhat related: Massachusetts recently introduced specialty license plates to benefit the state’s libraries. As much as I believe in treasuring the Chesapeake, something like this in Maryland would raise money for and promote libraries.
I have been begging for longer library hours and no closed days for years – it only makes sense – they should look at the surrounding retail as a cue – is Borders crowded on a summer Sunday afternoon? Hell, yeah – then WHY is the library closeed???!!! Same goes for 10pm on Friday night and many other times the library SHOULD be open to accomodate when we citizens would actually use it vs when the govt employees feel like working it.