Overview

The author draws on a diverse range of sources to investigate how libraries serve as multiuse public spaces, anchors in urban redevelopment, civic icons, and showcases of renowned architects like Rem Koolhaas, Cesar Pelli, and Enrique Norton. Mattern's clear and careful analysis reveals the complexity of contemporary dialogues in library design, highlighting the roles that staff, the public, and other special interest groups play. Mattern also describes how the libraries manifest changing demographics, new ways of organizing collections and delivering media, and current philosophies of librarianship.

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9780816648962

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<p> An intriguing paradox of the digital age and the shrinkage of space that has accompanied it is the large-scale investment that has been made in recent decades in the physical library. In The New Downtown Library Shannon Mattern expertly unpacks this unexpected renaissance in the design and construction of big city-center public libraries that has occurred in the wake of the suburbanizing, centrifugal impulses of mid-twentieth century urban planning. Mattern approaches the subject with considerable analytical sophistication, basing her discussion on the theory that meaningful explanations of material culture should be derived from investigations into social forms. This book is a 'must read' text for anyone studying the modern library world, local cultural services, or the architecture of cultural institutions. --Alistair Matthew Black

An intriguing paradox of the digital age and the shrinkage of space that has accompanied it is the large-scale investment that has been made in recent decades in the physical library. In The New Downtown Library Shannon Mattern expertly unpacks this unexpected renaissance in the design and construction of big city-center public libraries that has occurred in the wake of the suburbanizing, centrifugal impulses of mid-twentieth century urban planning. Mattern approaches the subject with considerable analytical sophistication, basing her discussion on the theory that meaningful explanations of material culture should be derived from investigations into social forms. This book is a must read text for anyone studying the modern library world, local cultural services, or the architecture of cultural institutions. Alistair Matthew Black

Author Information

Shannon Mattern is assistant professor of media studies and film at The New School.

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