Check out this lovely piece and photos by Brigid Winter on the Surrey City Centre Library tour co-hosted by the BCLA-CLA and ALA student groups.
A Library, Monumental by Brigid Winter
A monumental library is a very large library but it is more, it is a grand, impressive, meaningful monument with distinctive architecture that inspires wonder. A building that evokes exclamations like, ‘tremendous’ or ‘magnificent.’ It is a monumental structure that just happens to house a library. (Shoham & Yablonka, 2008)
I don’t know about anyone else but I certainly felt the magnificence of the Surrey City 
Central Library at first look. My initial thought on catching a glimpse of the library from the train was ‘Wow, that is a monumental library.’ Without knowing that it was the library, I recognized that it was the library (does that make sense to anyone else?). In my unlearned and untrained, non-architectural mind it certainly seemed like a building worthy of a place in any architectural digest. I was impressed by the use of the space and how everything felt and looked like parts of a natural flow; with natural light streaming through the expanse of glass walls.
Although, there was massive construction taking place directly in front of the library, it did not take away from its WOW factor but made me anxious to see what the entire area would look like after the planned developments were complete. One thing’s for sure – with the library on one side and the city hall the other, the area is bound to be teeming with people; an information exchange zone of sorts.
Our grand tour, led by the able David Kerr, took us from the ground floor (which featured a small café) all the way up to the seventh floor; each floor with its own personality and style and type of people. There was a lot to see so I’ll just point out some of the features/things that made an impression on me:
- The public spaces – we were told that that was part of the plan, to create a lot of open/communal spaces. However, if you’re the peace and quiet type, there are also loads of quiet study areas you could hang out in.
- Self-serve check out and return options available.
- Teen lounge and gaming room with huge flat screen TV! How cool is that? I sure would have loved to have that kind of library around when I was a teenager.
- The visually impaired have been catered for by way of the Read-Ability Center.
- The different and unique collection of seating options.
- The senior’s lounge.
- Computer room and training center.
- The ‘sound’ chairs! Insert a CD or even dock your own iPod/iPhone and just let the music flow over you. Oh, to own one of those myself…
- And let’s not forget the various collections of information – books, DVDs, magazines, newspapers, journals, etc.
What I appreciated the most was that every age group was catered for in the planning of this library; from preschooler all the way to the senior citizen. The library has an excellent ‘vibe;” so much so that it didn’t feel like a library at all but a recreation club. This is definitely a library of the future, keeping pace with the rapid changes in technology and responding to these changes in order to meet the needs of its users. Here’s to monumental!
References
Shoham, S., & Yablonka, I. (2008). Monumental Library Buildings in the Internet Era: the future of public libraries. IFLA Journal, 34, 266-279. doi: 10.1177/0340035208097227