- Opened: November 1st 2018
- Address: 800 3 Street SE
- Website: https://calgarylibrary.ca/new-central-library/
- Project Website: Link (click experience for an interactive map)
- Google Pics: Link
- Wikipedia Article: Link
Have you been to the new Central Library? Will you be going? Do you think we needed a new library? Or do you think there was a road interchange somewhere that we could have spent the money on?
On November 1st the new Central Library opened. It was a four-year construction project totalling 245 million dollars, with unique location-based challenges (it was built over operating C-train tracks). Our new Central Library makes quite the impression, it’s welcoming with bright open spaces, an extensive use of wood, gentle curves and slopes everywhere. Of course, it’s not just the building, it’s the variety of its contents. Libraries have changed from endless aisles of books to collaboration spaces with classes and of course the books. Our new library is 240,000 sq ft, containing 450,000 titles, 30 free to use community meeting rooms, an audio and video studio and a 340 seat theatre.
On Saturday November 3rd we joined thousands who flocked to see the city’s newest civic investment. To be honest with you when I originally heard about the new library being built in the East Village I didn’t think much of it. The location made sense but I thought little else. Now after following its construction for years, both physically by sight and online through sites and forums, I’m more than interested. I haven’t had a library card in years, saying I enjoy the atmosphere of bookstores to libraries. Well, thanks to the new Central Library I’m ready for that to change.
We took the train from our end of downtown to the other, getting off at city hall. What an impression it makes, the Library is another landmark site in the East Village’s transformation of an end of downtown that was once far from desirable. The whole area is one of optimism and progress, however this is not luxury condos, high-end dining, or a boutique hotel. Because this is a place for everyone and anyone to enjoy. My wife and I remarked how the travel space from “downtown” to “the east village” is now gone. There is no space one has to “get through”. Once the tower at 5th & 3rd is complete with Loblaws City Market, then it won’t matter the direction you approach from either. Third street behind the municipal building is no longer a cold barren no man’s land. Instead it’s a welcome walk with both buildings’ staircases making the height of the buildings feel human and approachable.
Approach we did with twenty thousand of our neighbours to see this grand place. On the west side of the building opposite city hall is a 2000 sq ft cafe called LUKES. This is a collaboration between Gareth Lukes, the third generation owner of Lukes Drug Mart in Bridgeland, and Eric Hendry, former chef of Model Milk and now Bar Von Der Fels. (LUKES is accessed from the outside on the west side of the building) We did not get a chance to check out LUKES on this visit but I’m sure we will soon. After all, there’s little our family loves more than coffee shops.
Following stairs or a ramp leads from the street level plaza up and under the structure’s overhanging entrance. This can then be used as a passageway coming down the other side to the East Village. The entrance ceiling of the overhang is built with curved wood planks, like floorboards, a theme that is used throughout. Coming in the main entrance you first find new works of fiction. I liked that everything about the library is spacious, but space wasn’t wasted with some kind of grand lobby, no the books start right away.
Part of the move away from a lobby and checkout desk is that there are self-serve checkout desks all over the place. I’d read about this before our visit, it’s a move away from library staff “hidden” behind desks, and instead adds to the open and interactive nature of the library with staff moving throughout the building helping visitors.
All the floors of the building can be accessed from the grand central staircases with natural wood throughout and lit by the skylight up top. In addition the first two floors can be gradually traversed by a walkway that slowly ramps along the perimeter of the whole structure.
Roughly halfway up the first floor is the site’s second restaurant, also called Lukes. This smaller site serves coffee and sweets. You can even enjoy the same soft serve that Lukes Drug Mart is famous for, the plan is for the flavours to change monthly. When you visit, give yourself some time to spend here, just to take a seat and enjoy the great view of all the developments in the East Village.
Moving past and around the corner is the kid’s library, this I also read about in advance. Rather than a kids section in the back or the basement as you would have found years ago, this is centrally located and as grand as anything else. Kids books are arranged by age group and later by genre. The area is visually filled with colours and areas to read, but also with a play structure.
I’ve heard that some feel a play area for kids has no place in a library. Well as a parent I welcome it. I look forward to years of coming to the library as a family, it’s filled with something for everyone and we’ll easily spend hours there. However, when kids are just little they get restless with sitting, or “looking around”. A play area is perfect it allows them to reset or balance out and then be ready and patient for a change of pace again. At least this is what I can see my kids doing.
The second floor continues with the extensive fiction collection as well as special collections for the visually or hearing impaired.
The third floor has a digital focus, here is where the audio and video studios are. If you have a project you need to work on but lack the equipment it’s all here for your use. You can borrow Chromebooks and take them to a cubicle or meeting room. The floor also contains the teen lounge, here there are board games and video games. Teens can find novels and book series focused on them while they can also learn about robots and programming, use an old typewriter or learn to sew. There are also music and movie collections that can be taken out just the same. It’s a true space for teenagers.
The fourth floor contains reference volumes with a huge section on local history and interest. Lastly is the great reading room. This reminds me a little of an old world library space, yet modern and very calm a perfect retreat.
On that opening weekend it was insanely busy, imagine Chinook Mall two days before Christmas, and you’d be right. There were lines to get everywhere, lines to look at everything, and strollers parked everywhere. Yet mixed in with the crowds just coming to look around like ourselves, there were already people reading and studying.
Despite the huge open welcoming areas, there are still sit down spaces for small groups and individuals everywhere. There are rows of computers and printers for everyone to use and great meeting rooms for groups. There are classes going on where you can learn new skills, take a history lesson, or hear a local author speak, all for free.
But don’t think that a visit to simply pick up a book will occupy more time than you have, because right off the entrance are the holds for pickup, and returns. Ensuring you don’t need to take the time to explore, except when you have it.
This new library is a beautiful addition to our city, to the downtown and the East Village. I don’t believe for a second that the money should have been spent elsewhere, there will always be other demands on our tax paying dollars. But to live in a city with no community, no great spaces of expression, no unique and local spaces is not a city I want to live in. This library is free to all, for every income level, for our oldest citizens and our youngest, for those newest to our country and those who’ve never left our city.
I’ve heard criticisms about its location, being realistic it is down the street from the drop in centre and shares a sidewalk with the salvation army. But it’s also across the street from Bow Valley College, sharing 3rd street with the future City Market, and a close neighbour to Studio Bell. It is near everything, in a neighbourhood where everything is changing.
I’m sure that a trip to the Library via the C-Train would bring my family into contact with more of our city’s homeless than a car trip to Chinook Mall. Does that mean I will want to keep my children away from its location? Not at all. First off people everywhere are different, and different isn’t to be feared. I want my children to experience life, not to be held up in some sheltered environment. If that means that we see someone less fortunate at the Library trying to change their circumstances, then that’s the way the real world is. If that means we see someone sleeping on the steps of that nice new plaza, well that’s a little uncomfortable. That would create some questions, which I would try to explain, and to teach them how to handle such situations. Yes I want to protect my children from things in life that would make them uncomfortable, but really I want to teach them to see and understand situations. If that means seeing a mixture of things in our day to day experience, well that’s living where everything isn’t always the best, but it isn’t a reason to stay away from things and places where things happen.
I’ve had some of my best times in our city in the East Village. In the summer I call sitting along the River Walk my happy place. This area is more than up and coming it is filled with growth and positivity. I like visiting the area because that energy is infectious. It is the perfect location for the new Central Library and many family outings to come.
I wanted to share more pictures of some of the other rooms and features that I couldn’t fit into the article.
