500 Day 2 - Central Library, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

After a slow morning start, I bravely caught the train and reversed my steps from last night. I got into conversation with a young man during the short ride and learned that riding without a ticket will get you a fine of $350, about double the fine in the Twin Cities. (A doorman at the hotel said he's wrong.) He also said he was cited for jay-walking and the fine was $110. The same doorman said that sounds about right, and told me that Calgary is the most expensive city in North America, after New York and Boston. Yikes!

I stopped at Luke's Restaurant, on the lowest level of the library and had a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of milk. Thick bread and lots of cheese, very good. Although it's an integral part of the building, Luke's does not have an entrance to/from the library proper, so I left and headed for the Archway, past two of the electromagnetic figures that comprise "Trio." Keep your eyes open for a picture with the third member of the threesome.

I could post dozens of pictures of the Arches and you still wouldn't "get it" until you stood under this outdoor "ceiling" of sustainably forested red cedar. I believe the tour guide yesterday said that the shape was inspired by the snow formations created by the Chinook wind. [If I have that wrong, I hope someone will leave a comment so I can make the necessary correction. That's true throughout, of course.]

You can approach the Arches up broad stairs or on a sloping sidewalk. Plantings here are native, of course, and they are irrigated with "gray water."

Books are checked in as they are returned, one at a time. From here they enter the automated materials handling system (AMH) and go up on an apparatus you'll see when I get up a couple of levels.

Self-service checkout computers have vertical screens, setting them apart from various other kinds of screens.

Speaking of self-service: There is no service desk, information desk, or any other stationary location for library staff. Instead, they always seem to be around when you need to ask a question or get some help, with their ID lanyards, blue vests, phones, and iPads. They helped me many times: showed me how to find something on the catalog computers, answered a couple of questions about the children's library, showed me the stairs and ramp alternatives, helped me buy a library t-shirt, and, most notably, found a map on a computer and got me directions back to my hotel when I lost my Calgary map. Thanks to all of you!

There, you can't miss it...the third element of Trio.

Multi-function computers are available throughout the library. The five large blocks of color allow you to Search the Catalog, Find a Program, Become a Member, see Hours and Locations (There are 21 libraries in the Calgary system), and look for Today's Events. The black card with white print on the side tells what level your book will be found on, at least for non-fiction.

The next level up brings us to the Createspace. This flexible area is currently offering chances to speculate about the future of Calgary. For example, there are stations that invite you to write the headlines you imagine for 25 years hence, 2044. If you lean more toward the artistic, draw your ideas about how Calgary will change.

  

I understand the the typewriter is a popular tool in the Createspace, to the point that it is frequently off-display for minor repairs! Kids love it!

New books have ample space for display.

Another short set of steps up brings us to a flexible display space for art. Nearby is Luke's coffee shop, with ample seating, whether or not you choose to indulge in a pastry and a beverage. This is a cousin to Luke's restaurant, but with only pastries and beverages. I paused here for a snack and for a view of nearby construction. This is a very dynamic and changing part of the city.

And so we come up a few more steps to the children's library. I posted some pictures of this area in the last entry; pictures here are all from my second day of visiting, and I've tried to avoid duplication. These shelves and bins of picture books are all mounted on casters for maximum flexibility.

New books are displayed on low shelves...

...and slightly higher shelves. In the picture below, look closely at the white "dots" across the shiny plastic covers. These are reflections of the strip lighting installed beneath each shelf to light the shelf below. Energy efficient and very effective.

I think this mat in front of one of the computer stations is spot-on. Sometimes parents have to be reminded to share their home language with their children.

I took this picture mainly because of the large, classic "kindergarten" blocks, also called "unit" blocks, that I like but rarely see. While I was sitting nearby taking a break from walking around, a boy dashed up the steps in the background and flung himself into play. As I left, he had chosen several dinosaurs and was trying to get them to live in the barn.

If you look closely below the painted origami bird, you will see a set of double doors. I don't know for sure, but I think they open to a program room.

Every nook and cranny has something to explore. I think I would have missed this xylophone (OK, metalophone) except that someone picked up the handy striker and played some random notes, drawing my attention. This made me wonder what other treats I may have missed. I think a person could spend a lot of time here and keep finding new delights. And how fortunate is the child who gets to do just that.

I saw a sign somewhere during my visit that said this was spring break week for the local schools, which probably explained the amazing number of children of all ages who were present.

If you saw the pictures from my first day of visiting, you may remember a wall with many round windows. This time I did get a brief look at those windows from the inside, and my favorite feature, a heavy-duty rope net which serves as a crawling and bouncing place for kids above and a hanging-by-hands place for those below.

Another corner holds an extra-large Snakes and Ladders game, with its die ready and waiting. A dad and boy gave this a brief go when I was nearby.

I used chairs like these in one of my U of MN classes a few years back. The circle at the bottom is like a shallow dish to hold a backpack or jacket, very handy to keep your belongings with you when you use the casters to move the chairs around. Seeing a dozen chairs in a row suggests that they are used for programs for school-age kids, perhaps. They seem to be "parked."

The picture below gives a look at the steps that lead from one area to another on this side of the building, from the first level, to the mezzanine with the children's area, to the second full level. The other side of the building has a ramp that flows along the curved side and provides access to each level. Levels 3 and 4 are reached by long stairways or the elevators.

In addition to the children's library, level two holds Fiction and Literature. There are many "Learning and Discovery Rooms" on this level also, of various sizes.

And now for one of my favorites, the automated materials handing (AMH) apparatus. Books are returned to one of four "receivers" on the first level of the library. From there, they are sandwiched between two rubbery or plastic layers and transported up to the second level. The two layers are actually back-to-back loops; think of endless conveyor belts that almost touch.

At the top of its run, the two layers sort of peel apart, sending each item onto a regular conveyor and into the sorting room. Then they keep turning and head back down to the first level in a continuous loop.

Here is a closer look at the mechanism that pops books out onto a regular conveyor belt. I was not able to see the room where the books are sorted and sent to their destinations, the various levels of this building, plus the 20 or so branch libraries.

Hello again, two thirds of Trio. They are mesmerizing, the way they continue to sway back and forth. The human figure between them gives an idea of the scale.

Level two holds the fiction and literature collections. There is a window wall with a cluster of study carrels. The Artist in Residence, a Canadian author Marcello di Cinto, has an office here.

Level three has all sorts of materials, including some of the non-fiction collection, books on CD, music and movies. Materials are available in a long list of languages. The structure shown here provides a semi-private space for the Job Desk, where I am guessing that job searches and perhaps simulated job interviews can be conducted.

The teen area fills one end of the third level. I stayed out (see the orange sign), but I did walk around one edge a bit. One fairly large room is the Teen Tech Lab, where I saw a sign that reads, "Need school supplies? Just ask the staff for access to the supply truck!" The next room is the Teen Study Hall; it was full of a couple dozen teens who seemed to be working diligently in ones and twos.

Another main feature of the third level is the Digital Commons, with many computer stations available in an open area and more in a nearby meeting room.

The panel to the left is where you can check out a laptop for use in the library. To the right are the spaces where the laptops are stored. When I took these pictures, the screen indicated that 20 laptops were available.

           

In this new building, many areas and features have been underwritten by local residents. In a few cases, stories like the one here explain the background of a particular donation.

Up to level four--this was fun! To the right of the machine is a box with "cards" on different topics. You choose a card, slip it into a reader, then use the simple controls to navigate. Turn the silver wheel to navigate the display, press one of the small buttons to select an aspect of the topic, press the other one to return home for a fresh start. I spent some time with a display about early houses in Calgary.

An extensive area on this level holds books on every aspect of Calgary's Story.There is even an office designated for a Resident Historian!

At one end of the building, over the entrance, I believe, a tepee is set up. There appeared to be a circle of youngsters inside. It looked like a meeting of some sort, not just a place to read. Nearby is the Elders' Room that we visited during the architecture tour. Elders of various nations spend time here as resources. [I'm pretty sure I'm not doing this justice. Somebody help me out with a comment, please?]

Details can make anything more fun. These cabinets full of microfilmed newspapers have been covered with reproductions of newsprint.

I've included this for two reasons. First, I appreciate the fact that instead of just saying "In case of fire, use stairs" it shows you where the stairs are. So often, that is not the case.

Also, it shows the general shape of the building, which I find hard to describe. From here I took the elevator back down to the first floor.

One of the library staff very kindly figured out that it would be possible for me to buy a library T-shirt. Most libraries I've visited have a "Friends of the Library" organization to raise funds and help with events. Here that role is taken by the Calgary Public Library Foundation. They don't have a store, but the staff person who was helping me called them, learned that they did indeed have a t-shirt in my size, and it would be brought from their office on the lower level. How's that for customer service? While I waited for it (not long), I took a couple more pictures of the oculus and the ceiling in the entrance area.

Earlier in the day I had heard a volunteer tell a group that the library now has three outdoor program spaces, and as I was leaving I saw one of them in action--though I don't know just what I was seeing. A large group of teens was sitting on the steps, as you see here. Several adults were at the bottom, in front of them. Some sort of intermittent cheering was going on. A mystery to me.

One more look at the arch...

...and, I almost forgot, a picture of the quietly understated sign. 

Looking back, my fascination and desire to see this library actually started with light rail trains. From 2015 to 2017 I kept an eye on a construction webcam that let me watch the process of "encapsulating" the light rail, which actually runs right through the lowest level of the library. Here comes a train now...see the distinctive library windows at the top of the picture? It's time for me to cross the street and ride the next train three stops to my hotel. At which point I will wrap up the trip by turning the wrong way when I exit the train, getting lost again and again depending on the kindness of Calgarians who have been so very helpful in getting me out of minor fixes. Thanks to all. You have an amazing new library.

PS, especially for any readers in the Twin Cities who are aware of some of the safety issues we've had with our relatively new light rail. Perhaps if people had to physically push a a gate open in order to cross the tracks, they would pay more attention. Perhaps.

3/22 2019

500 Day 1 - Central Library, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I've been waiting more than three years to visit this library. In 2015 I drove from Minnesota to Glacier National Park by way of Banff. I had planned to visit the Calgary Central library on that trip. It was the 4th of July weekend and I was in Canada because US libraries would all be closed, but I had not reckoned on the famous Calgary Stampede. Traffic (pedestrian and vehicle) overwhelmed me, and my gps was unhappy. So I gave it up and visited the Crowfoot Branch of the Calgary library on my way west.

I learned on that trip that a new Calgary Central library was in the works, and I discovered a web cam that posted new pictures of the construction site at ten-minute intervals. I started following the site and printing screen captures every week or so. My earliest is dated 9/24/2015, and I was fascinated by the encapsulation of the light rail. My most recent is dated 3/16/2017, when enough of the
building was enclosed that there wasn't much to see. But I kept following progress on the library website with vague idea that I would visit when it opened.

At Christmas I learned from a relative with Calgary connections that the library had opened, and I decided that I'd use spring break from the University of Minnesota to make a short trip to Calgary. I arrived with about an hour to spare before an architectural tour, so I wandered around and took the pictures you see here. Today I will return and spend time more systematically, and I will make a second blog entry for this amazing place.

One thing I noticed even before arriving here at the entrance was that everyone is aware of and proud of this library. The young man at Customs, hearing why I was visiting; the shuttle van driver; the parking valet at my hotel; several people who helped me find my way between the hotel and the library...all spontaneously commented along the lines of "That's a great place!"

This three-panel mural was painted in place by three First Nations artists. I learned on my tour that the panels represent past, present, and future. A library staff person said that the figures in the center panel are the artist's wife and child.

I followed a long, curving ramp along one outside wall and eventually reached the children's library. The first thing that caught my eye here was this wall with many ways to look out. The space behind the wall was full of kids and parents having a grand time. Perhaps I'll have another chance to show it.

I sat to rest by these wonderful paintings of dogs, and read an explanation of the project. Local fourth graders "adopted" shelter dogs, learned about "their" dog, and had lessons in empathy and painting. What a wonderful project for the kids and a great chance to draw attention to dogs needing forever homes.

This is a view along the children's library. The windows should look familiar from the exterior picture.

The non-fiction area of the children's library is designated a "Questionarium." A brief exchange with a staff person led me to believe that calling it the "non-fiction area" is not correct; it goes beyond that into interactive stations and much more. The orange boxes here are metal "lockers" that hold books waiting to be discovered.

Here's a self-explanatory activity, encouraging movement and perhaps some discussion of the features at the far end.

Here are two more activity stations, a tower puzzle and a large supply of what I think are Kapla blocks.

A glass wall between two levels of this area boasts an amusing mural that makes the spaces distinct while keeping the sight lines open.

This 400-seat auditorium is in regular use for a variety of programs. I understand that the curtains at the left can be opened, allowing passers-by and audience glimpses of each other. A sound check was underway for a performance that evening.

As the architecture tour ended, we looked up at the oculus over the lobby, a major source of natural light.

And now I will put my shoes on and head back to the library, to wander, take notes and pictures, and get some lunch at Luke/s Cafe. Then I will tackle the next challenge, finding a way to get to the airport for a very early flight, without breaking the bank! Check back with the blog in a couple of days to see what my further explorations found.

3/20/2019