http://goodspeedupdate.com/2006/1879 Rob Goodspeed's blog Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:48:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://goodspeedupdate.com/2006/1879/comment-page-1#comment-11797 The Goodspeed Update » Washington’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library Hangs In the Balance Sat, 18 Nov 2006 18:31:39 +0000 http://goodspeedupdate.com/?p=1879#comment-11797 [...] What Of the Library? Much has been written about the library and the associated debate about the future of the library, and the entire library system, in recent months. City officials hope the library’s new director, Ginnie Cooper, will be able to lead a “transformation” of the system desired by Mayor William’s Library Task Force. Since her arrival the library has instituted free WiFi, opened branch locations on Sundays, and a long-promised bookmobile has appeared in my neighborhood Shaw to replace the library which closed two years ago. (Library officials also recently constructed a fence around the derelict structure.) The library staff desperately want a new library: their materials are endangered by the inadequate ventilation and sunlight. Meanwhile, preservationists are obsessing about the legacy of an architect most American’s have never heard of, defending a largely inaccessible and widely disliked architectural style (modernism). Many of the people who have power to make things happen in the city aren’t invested in the structure, as they have Amazon.com, Politics and Prose, the Georgetown Branch, or the Library of Congress. The library’s director from 1975 until 1997 who could speak to both the needs of the library and the history of the building passed away in 2004. [...] [...] What Of the Library? Much has been written about the library and the associated debate about the future of the library, and the entire library system, in recent months. City officials hope the library’s new director, Ginnie Cooper, will be able to lead a “transformation” of the system desired by Mayor William’s Library Task Force. Since her arrival the library has instituted free WiFi, opened branch locations on Sundays, and a long-promised bookmobile has appeared in my neighborhood Shaw to replace the library which closed two years ago. (Library officials also recently constructed a fence around the derelict structure.) The library staff desperately want a new library: their materials are endangered by the inadequate ventilation and sunlight. Meanwhile, preservationists are obsessing about the legacy of an architect most American’s have never heard of, defending a largely inaccessible and widely disliked architectural style (modernism). Many of the people who have power to make things happen in the city aren’t invested in the structure, as they have Amazon.com, Politics and Prose, the Georgetown Branch, or the Library of Congress. The library’s director from 1975 until 1997 who could speak to both the needs of the library and the history of the building passed away in 2004. [...]

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