Check it out: Libraries inside malls

The idea is certainly attractive

The idea is certainly attractive, as is the library and web page… but I have my doubts as to how it will weather the mall crowd.

I see two bad things possibly happening: The people that frequent the mall will say: “It’s just a library.” How I hate that phrase, but when I worked at the Museum of Science, we heard it all the time. People would come up, see the exhibits, be all excited, come around the corner and we’d hear, “But it’s just a library!” Location is a lot, but it certainly takes more to make a world class library.

A library in a mall might confuse patrons. It would confuse me, and I understand libraries (well, as well as the next guy, anyway). Picture Saturday afternoon, a bunch of bored kids kicked out of Best Buy, so they come to the comfy place with couches and computers and places to hang out. People being what they are, they are still using the tone of voice and behavior that got them kicked out of the retail establishment in the first place. If the library is lucky, things are simply loud. If the library is unlucky, things get stolen or destroyed.

Small children, I also fear, would get dropped here while mom and dad or big bro/sis go shopping. This could instill a love of reading – hopefully it does. This also could be looked at as a free babysitting service. I don’t mind looking out after well behaved kids that are old enough. I don’t want to watch your two year old while you go shopping. The purpose of reading to a two year old is that it’s something you do together.

I would like to think that this would make libraries more inviting to people, I really would. But if you’re a reader, you already know libraries are your friends. If you’re not a reader, then you look at it simply as an internet cafe with books. Or “just another bookstore.”