Library staff visit libraries across the country for ideas

Staff from the Cedar Rapids Public Library have been visiting libraries across the country to get ideas for the new library.

What they're finding is in line with the kind of library we described in The Gazette in a February story about the future library.

Library staff have visited the Darien, Conn., library, and a series of libraries around Denver. Next week they go to Springfield, Mo. The trips are paid for by The Library Foundation.

“We made a proposal that we wanted to look at the best libraries in the country for ideas,” Library Director Bob Pasicznyuk said. “They granted us the money for the trip.”

Pasicznyuk and representatives from OPN Architects and Ryan Construction, Inc. traveled with the group to Denver.

“We were looking for warm and welcoming spaces that still had some bold and surprising elements,” he said. “We also wanted to see libraries that were more customer-focused.”

The libraries in Denver don't organize their books according to the Dewey decimal system. Instead, books are organized according to categories and sub-categories like a bookstore.

Other concepts that stuck: staff desks that are small and movable, space for public art and plenty of natural light.

“It makes a huge difference,” he said.

The probable size of the library continues to shrink. Pasicznyuk is thinking it'll be in the 90,000 square feet range. It was earlier estimated at more than 100,000 square feet. There are no final numbers yet, in part because the site will determine the size of the library.

“We didn't actually want to work a design for a site until the city closes on a property,” Pasicznyuk said.

Also, the library is talking about sharing space with some early childhood organizations - like the Grant Wood Area Education Association, Pasicznyuk said. And the size of the new library will be affected in part by whether that works out and how much extra space those organizations need.