It’s a mystery at first. The youngsters on the computers in the children’s center adjoining the Queens Central Library appear to be squatting on floor cushions, but their legs are nowhere to be seen. In a moment, it grows clear. They’re seated at shallow wells scooped into the floor so there’s no danger of falling off their chairs.
David W. Dunlap/The New York Times Children’s Library Discovery Center.It’s one of many signs that the 47-year-old Queens Central Library in Jamaica is being transformed into a more appealing space that tries to accommodate the many waysin which patrons, including the smallest ones, now use libraries.
In 2011, the adjoining Children’s Library Discovery Center opened at Merrick Boulevard and 90th Avenue. This is a new building by Juergen Riehm of 1100 Architect and the Lee H. Skolnick Architecture and Design Partnership.
Today, the transformation is occurring at the two-story central building itself. In January, the mayoral Design Commission approved the latest phase, which includes eliminating the dark recessed entryway by building a new glass wall almost flush to the building line. Designed by the architecture firm Gensler, this change will increase floor space in the front lobby, which is to get a new customer service desk. The library is also to get a new cafe, a gift shop and a teenage center. The comp! uter center has grown to about 100 stations, 70 for the general public and 30 for training and instructional use. There are new job information and consumer health reference areas; an expanded media center, where DVDs and other playable media can be found; and a quiet room. (It’s come to this.)
David W. Dunlap/The New York Times From right to left: a novel by Habib Selmi of Tunisia, translations of novels by Kathy Reichs and short stories by Fawzia Rashid of Bahrain.“A public library based in the community has a wonderful opportunity in the future,†said Tomas W. Galante, president and chief executive of the 62-library Queens system, which is independent of the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library. By that, he meant a library that also supported development of the work force, fostered adult literacy, offered help for immigrants seeking citizenship, increased the public’s access to Web-based resources and provided a safe haven for teenagers.
“We’re a social place, too,†Mr. Galante said. “It’s a place where people are learning from each other.â€
What of the physical books They’re still present, about 1.34 million of them. But there are far fewer in the open stacks on the first floor, down to 165,000 volumes from 300,000. The others were moved to the two stack levels below ground and are available on 20 minutes’ notice. Mr. Galante said this transfer opened “more people places†on the first floor.
The $9.8 million renovation project at the Central Library is part of an overall 10-year, $290 milli! on system! wide expansion and modernization, financed chiefly by $98 million from the office of the borough president, Helen Marshall; $83.5 million from the Queens members of the City Council; and $45.3 million from the office of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
The current Central Library is a product of its era. In the mid-1960s, instead of renovating the existing library at 89-14 Parsons Boulevard, officials chose to build an entirely new structure at 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, six blocks east. The older building was recycled as a courthouse. Its facade has since been incorporated into an apartment building called the Moda.
Kiff, Colean, Voss & Souder, Architecs-The Office of York & Sawyer A mid-1960s rendering of the new Queens Central Library on Merrick Boulevard.The new library modeled itself â€" proudly â€" on a supermarket. Everything was on one sprawling floor, with high-demand items toward the back, to lure patrons through as many aisles as possible. Books were shelved by broad topics, rather than strictly by Dewey Decimal Classification, and they moved through the building on conveyor belts. “This is the most modern example of functional library building,†Harold W. Tucker, the chief librarian, happily told The New York Times in 1966.
Design credit went to a hybrid practice known as Kiff, Colean, Voss & Souder, Architects-The Office of York & Sawyer. While perpetuating great names of early 20th century architecture, York & Sawyer, the firm worked in the spartan, stripped-down vocabulary of the time. Let’s just sa! y that th! e Queens Central Library did not simply function like a supermarket.
Among the few animating touches were two wall-mounted reliefs by the sculptor Milton Hebald, whose other works included the enormous “Zodiac Screen†at the Pan American World Airways terminal at Kennedy International Airport (now removed); and bronze figures based on “The Tempest†and “Romeo and Juliet,†outside the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. He also created a seated figure of a pensive James Joyce for Joyce’s grave in Zurich.
Mr. Hebald’s sculptures will remain, as will most all of the features of the 1960s design, although a door will be added into a vestibule where patrons can drop off books, DVDs and other borrowed material around the clock, in another bow to the new age.
David W. Dunlap/The New York Times One of two wall-mounted sculptures, flanking the library entrance, by Milton Hebald.Queens Central Library Opens in 1966 (PDF)
Queens Central Library Opens in 1966 (Text)
