Last week, Mount Allison hosted an online consultation session on its library revitalization project.
The university has been collecting ideas on the future of the library and archives since the spring of 2018, but last Wednesday’s session seemed very much focussed on finding out what a new library could mean to the ‘town’ portion of Sackville’s ‘town and gown’ combined community.
The project could mean a complete makeover for the Ralph Pickard Bell Memorial Library. Dr. Andrew Wilson is associate professor of Western Religions at Mount Allison. He co-hosted the online event along with architect Peter Outerbridge, Mount Allison Vice President of Finance and Administration Robert Inglis, and R.P. Bell chief librarian Diane Keeping.
Wilson said the project, “represents a major renovation, a major rebuild.”
“The potential is for the whole interior of [the current library] building to be completely gutted, to be completely removed and built from the inside out,” said Wilson. “The potential for this is really, I mean… I think it’s probably good to think of it as quite radical.”
In response to a question about whether the renovated building would be limited to the current R.P. Bell footprint, Robert Inglis echoed Wilson’s sentiment. “It’s less about the space, the particular footprint, as it is about meeting our goals,” said Inglis. “And consequently, if it gets a little bit bigger on our way to meeting the goals, then at least as the person in charge of facilities, finances and whatnot, I’m fine with that.”
In fact, Inglis expressed an interest in the scope of the project growing, so as to draw in more potential funders for the project.
“Such a space, which provides more excitement to parties like government donors and otherwise, may actually make the project more affordable for the university, not less,” said Inglis.
“One might be surprised to hear a finance person say bigger is more affordable,” said Inglis. “But this is actually a situation where that is quite possible, and indeed, the vision.”
BRINGING THE COMMUNITY IN
About a dozen people chimed in during the meeting with thoughts ranging from makerspaces to cafes to job hunting workshops and spaces geared to children and seniors.
Allison Butcher, who also happens to be a Sackville town councillor, commented on her experience at Halifax’s Central Library.
“It blew my mind,” said Butcher, “because it wasn’t what you expect a library to be, or at least not what I expected a library to be. It was full of activity.”
Butcher wondered if traditional ideas of what libraries have been could hold people back in imagining what’s possible with the R.P. Bell. “Perhaps it’s going to take a little more stretching before we can actually start with pie in the sky ideas, because they just don’t match what we traditionally think.”
Another Sackville town councillor, Bill Evans, said he hoped the architects could strike a balance between spacious and cozy, and suggested adding a door to the R.P. Bell facing town, instead of just a campus-focussed entrance.
“Taking down fences, literally and figuratively, has been very effective,” said Evans. “We used to have fences on campus, and that says, keep out. Having a door facing the street, I think, would be very inviting.”
Denise Corey is chief librarian with Cumberland Public Libraries over in Nova Scotia. Corey pointed to the Truro Library as an example of how Mount Allison could incorporate a new addition on an older building. “From the new part of the building, you’re looking at the old part of the building, and it’s just a beautiful thing,” said Corey. “It’s a nice view, and it blends well with the community.”
Corey also suggested that the new library would need to incorporate both spaces for louder, collaborative work, and also for quiet, solo study. She suggested the library include space for author readings and performances, and a maker lab or maker space, which might have items like 3D printers available. “There are always new technologies that people see, but don’t have access to,” said Corey, “so it might be interesting to have a maker space on your campus.”
Another attendee spoke about improving connections to the Sackville Public library, so they were seen more as complementary spaces, with crossover events and advertising.
Karen Sears pointed out that the facility would need to be accessible to the senior population of Sackville, who are often actively engaged in lifelong learning through organizations like Tantramar Seniors College. Sears said it would be important for the space to be inviting to locals, even in the absence of specific programming designed to draw them in.
“I think it could make a big difference, if people from town could feel that there are parts of the library they are welcome into without a pre-structured engagement program going on,” said Sears. “I don’t know if it would be a cafe, if it’s some collaboration spaces, if it’s some hangout areas, but something where they feel like they could walk into at any point, and they don’t have to be part of a specific event.”
RETAINING CONSIDERABLE HOLDINGS ALSO IMPORTANT
R.P. Bell librarian Laura Landon shared a letter from a longstanding patron of the library, Allan Cooper, who shared a memory of an assignment given to him by English professor Herbert Burke in the 1970’s, involving exploring the library in search of a book that resonated with him. Cooper wrote that, “it is crucial to retain, if not add to, the considerable diverse and eclectic holdings of the library.”
Chief Librarian Diane Keeping said stories like Alan Cooper’s were invigorating for her personally. “The serendipity of research–it’s one of the exciting things in the library,” said Keeping.
Keeping has only been with the RP Bell Library for a year, and talked about a previous library she worked at, a new facility with some state of the art features, including a 360 visualization lab.
“I’d never seen anything like it before,” says Keeping. “I was wondering, well, how would you use that sort of thing, other than the fact that it’s a cool thing?”
But the university’s nursing program ended up using the 360 lab to create a virtual ER department. “It recreated the the ER environment, the frenetic energy of that, so they could learn how to comport themselves in that sort of environment, but but in the safety of a virtual environment,” said Keeping.
“But also, from the community access standpoint, we could also use that space to have events where people could come and walk through the streets of Pompeii, before the volcano blew,” said Keeping. “You could go through the Grand Canyon, and explore it in that room. So there’s all sorts of opportunities for interesting things to happen in these interesting new spaces.”
Robert Inglis concluded the session with the promise that there would be more consultation. “This is not a one and done experience tonight,” said Inglis. “This is quite a comprehensive project. So there’ll be many ways for different people to get involved to both listen and hear, but also to provide us feedback. And we need your input, we absolutely do.”
Inglis said those with input could get in touch by email.
- Robert Inglis – ringlis @ mta.ca
- Diane Keeping – dkeeping @ mta.ca
- Andrew Wilson – awilson @ mta.ca
