New Cambridge Public Library Building

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I finally got to the new building of the Cambridge Public Library, which opened in November, yesterday.

It's really pretty nice. Of course, it helped that it was a sunny day -- I'm not sure it would be as cheerful at night or on a cloudy day. But just having enough space does make a lot of difference to how pleasant the seating areas are.

One of the problems with the old library was that it was hard to find things. The new one has a pamphlet with diagrams of what's on each floor. It was still a little hard to figure out that the "L" floors were underneath the main floor in the "Glass" building rather than in the "Stone" building, but after I realized that, I had no trouble finding the fiction collection.

I didn't check out the meeting rooms or the lounge areas. I did sit down in the "New Books" area and check that my Nokia 810 could connect easily to wireless.

It's obvious just by looking at the fiction collection that a lot of old books have been deaccessioned. When I found only two books by Elizabeth Goudge on the shelf, I checked the catalog. It lists three of her books as being in the Cambridge library, but all of them seem to (for now) be in the Minuteman Library Network.

One problem with life in Cambridge recently has been that while the main library building has been closed for the renovations, the old school building used as a substitute home didn't have enough air conditioning to be a good place to go on a hot summer day. It looks like this will solve that problem.

I've always liked the Richardsonian Romanesque old building, but it clearly didn't really have enough space, and I'm glad it's been joined by a pleasant new building. When the decision was made to make an addition rather than move the main library to a new site, a lot of people felt that a Central Square site would have been more accessible to more people, both in terms of where people live and where the public transportation goes. I understand that point of view, but I'm glad the old library is still there. (For me, Central Square is a little closer, but not enough to matter.)

If you want technical discussion of the architecture, here's an article.

Related posts:

1. Performing at the Cambridge Public Library
2. Borrowing ebooks from the library
3. Crime in the Broadway Building Condominium