HUNTER PUBLIC LIBRARY HUNTER NEW YORK PROFESSIONAL

That clearly didn’t happen in the case of Hunters Point. They accomplish this by placing patron service first and prioritizing community needs, including accessibility. There are libraries that live in town hall basements and still provide adequate services to their communities. While it’s important that it should be visually welcoming and pleasant, its first job is to provide services. At its root, the public library is a practical space. However, the question of why the library had to be an architectural marvel, and why this was so much more important than accessibility, remains to be answered. The building is complete, the budget has been spent, and the library is undeniably a striking architectural marvel.

HUNTER PUBLIC LIBRARY HUNTER NEW YORK PROFESSIONAL

In a $41 million budget, it is amazing that professional architects, staff, and administrators overlooked this step. It also implies a lack of consultation with both ADA experts and librarians. Planning to place books inaccessibly implies that both disabled patrons and the printed word are secondhand concerns to this branch, falling after impressive architectural design in importance. According to Pew, two thirds of visitors still use the public library primarily to borrow books. The normal health concerns of aging bodies also preclude climbing entire banks of staircases just to browse fiction shelves. Paper-printed books are still central to the library experience of many senior citizens. This architectural decision is particularly puzzling in light of the fact that older patrons represent an important demographic for libraries. Kendra “Gloom is My Beat” Pierre-Louis October 4, 2019

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