Caryn Anderson

DESIGN IDEAS - BUILDINGS and PROGRAMS

My favorite designs and features of existing libraries, archives and museums around the world and some ideas that I always wanted to try.

Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, DC, USA)

DO NOT MISS THE VIDEO. Participating in this exhibit live was the most powerful knowledge experience I've ever had in my life. Click on any image above to open website and then scroll down to view video (includes closeups of interactive menus).

The Lunch Counter - The Lunch Counter exhibit aims to teach visitors about the methods and organizational approaches used by activists for protests during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. This dramatic interactive installation includes twelve multitouch screens set into a modern interpretation of a Woolworth’s lunch counter facing a 35-foot projection screen. The interactive counter enables visitors to explore critical actions taken during the Civil Rights Movement to affect national laws and influence future events. Broken down into twelve smaller movements, the interactive covers marches, sit-ins, freedom rides, bus boycotts, school desegregation, urban rebellions, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, militancy, economic justice, gains & losses, and leadership.

"Beneath a slideshow of images of the fight for equality, I peruse a “lunch menu” of movements from sit-ins to freedom rides and bus boycotts. After choosing “freedom rider,” I confront a series of questions. As a participant in Mississippi, I and my colleagues are jailed, but as a white protester, I am offered release. Do I get out of jail or stay with my black friends? After, I make my choice, the screen informs me that, at the time of my visit, 67% of museum-goers using the computers, chose leaving jail. Allow enough time to go through this thought-provoking experience." (full article)


Mary Baker Eddy Library (Boston, USA)

Click on images below to view videos.


Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile di Torino [National Auto Museum] (Turin, ITALY)

There are so many amazing exhibits in the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile di Torino [National Auto Museum]. Some of the most impressive was the combined physical and video evolution of an automobile over time, and a large touch screen display allowing users to drill down for images and facts of dozens of models of automobiles. The floor map of Turin streets was surprisingly interesting and engaging for such a "low-tech" design.

Click on images below to view introduction video (in English). Jump to 0:44 for visual auto transformation, 2:38 to see example embedding video in car windows to create time travel effect, and 3:30 to see the floor map.


Atelier des Lumieres (Paris, FRANCE)

Atelier des lumieres presents classic artworks projected dynamically on all surfaces, with musical accompaniment

If video does not appear below (some browsers blocking), click on the still image to open the video of the van Gogh presentation.


City Museum (St. Louis, USA)

City Museum is a 10-story, 600,000 foot former shoe company warehouse in downtown St. Louis in which artists have repurposed the pieces of old cities to build miles of tunnels, slides, climbers, bridges, and castles. There are secret passages and grand galleries. Playgrounds and ball pits. A circus and a train. A rooftop school bus and a Ferris wheel. Children and adults can climb on and through just about everything, both indoors and out. Most of the structures are built with found objects ranging from old kitchen pans from an abandoned cafeteria to majestic stone entranceways of demolished buildings. It is not only a playground but a walk through St. Louis history.

If video does not appear below (some browsers blocking), click on the still image to open the video of the drone tour of the museum.


Mashantucket Pequot Museum (Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA)

Unfortunately there is not a lot online to highlight the incredible integration of technology, physical objects, and a wealth of facts and knowledge at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum. There are a lot of dioramas, some of which you can actually walk into - like the village. But what fascinated me most was the touch screens near diaromas where you can touch on various aspets of the dioramas in front of you to get more information on activities, history, and all kinds of related things.

Click on the still image to open the video of the 30 second museum commercial.


Genocide Archive of Rwanda (Kigali, RWANDA)

Testimonies - There are many powerful and moving aspects to this physical archive, museum and memorial. The most powerful for me was the Testimonies - an incredible collection of videotaped oral histories from hundreds of Rwandans. These testimonies are indexed by categories of people, locations, types of events, time periods, and a variety of topics and other keywords from transcipts. These indexes often bring you right to the specific points in the testimonies regarding the topic you are interested in. I spent hours with these videos when I visited, but lucky for you these testimonies are also available through their website.


Floor Maps

Painted on the driveway in front of my grammar school growing up, was simple line map of the United States with all the state outlined. We LOVED to walk around on that map while waiting for our buses: jumping from state to state, trying to remember the names of the states and their capitals. I have rarely seen large scale floor/ground maps like that in my travels, but for a library or museum I have always thought it would be a great floor design for the main lobby. Even if that was not possible, there are huge sized portable floor maps that are fantastic for temporary use.



Creative Interiors

There are lots of interesting designs for libraries out there. The images below are from a 2017 article on Ebook Friendly about 37 Modern Libraries from Around the World. Hover over the images to see the names/locations of the libraries.



IDEAS I'D LIKE TO SEE


Favorite Poem Project

I met Robert Pinsky, America's Poet Laureate from 1997-2000, in 2003. He talked about the Favorite Poem Project that he launched. It is an incredible project that I think every local and national library should consider doing. Highlighting the diversity of people who enjoy all kinds of poetry for different reasons brings us together as a people

From the Favorite Poem Project website: "The Favorite Poem Project is dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in our lives. Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, founded the Favorite Poem Project shortly after the Library of Congress appointed him to the post in 1997. ... During the one-year open call for submissions, 18,000 Americans wrote to the project volunteering to share their favorite poems — Americans from ages 5 to 97, from every state, representing a range of occupations, kinds of education, and backgrounds. ... The collection of 50 short video documentaries showcases individual Americans reading and speaking personally about poems they love. "

Click on the images to open the video, or go to the Favorite Poem Project website to select others.


Time Travel & Time Machines in Libraries

I would love to see a time travel machine of some sort in libraries. Whatever the machine (e.g., Tardis from Dr. Who, Great Glass Wonkavator from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Delorian from Back to the Future), I imagine users being able to step in, select a time period and/or place, and through technology and video displays the travelers would be shown/immersed in environments of that time/place, with lists of resources available from/through the library for that time/place (which could then be printed, with instructions/call numbers on how to find those resources).

I imagine the immersion being video and still photography projected/displayed on screens where windows or doors would be in the time machine (see example in Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile above). Depending on visual resources available for a selected time period and/or place, and the number of screens, there could be videos, photos, graphics, charts, lists, etc.

The Tardis, from Dr. Who - I would love to have a Tardis in a corner of the library lobby, which backs up to an interior wall so that when you enter the Tardis, it opens up into a room that looks like the Tardis interior. When the door to the Tardis is closed, from the inside this would be a screen that would display an "exterior" environment in the new time/place, where lists and facts and things could be on computer screen inside the Tardis control center.


The Great Glass Elevator/Wonkavator, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - I imagine this version having video screens where all the windows are in Willy Wonkas elevator and generating a visual experience that makes you feel like you are going into light speed while you travel to the place/time.


The Delorian, from Back to the Future - I imagine this version displaying the new time/place on the front and side windows, while facts and other information could be displayed on a computer screen on the dashboard.


Librarians as literary characters

Thursday Next is a literary detective who goes inside books from her futuristic time-travel world. The series of adventures is written by Jasper Fforde and it is very creative, funny and interesting. It is also great if you want to get an overview of classic literature from an unusual angle. "...the line between literature and reality becomes increasingly thin, allowing characters in the books and those in 'real life' to jump in and out of novels. ... the characters in novels are self-aware, knowing they are in a book. They make comments stating they are not needed until page 'such and such,' rather like actors in a play, and thus have time to help Thursday."

I love the idea of librarians or volunteers moving around the library dressed and acting like characters from literature (kind of like characters at Disneyland) - inspiring patrons to investgiate new works of literature. Could even be a great partnership with an acting program from a local university or school. I would love to see it on at least one Thursday a month!

Links to examples of literary costumes (English literature examples only, sorry): Literary costumes 1 - Literary costumes 2 - Literary costumes 3


Abridged Classics

I would love to see an option for library users to contribute their humorous versions for books they borrow from the library. Maybe there could be additions to the catalog entries or a separate web page for "Abridged Classics - courtesy of your fellow library users". John Atkinson is hilarious.


Mixed Taste - Tag Team Lectures on Unrelated Topics

I have loved the Mixed Taste program of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (Colorado) since I went to my first event with my sister years ago. Each event consist of two speakers who each get "20 minutes each to enlighten you on unrelated topics, but can’t make any connections to each other. Ideas start to blend afterwards when audience members ask questions of both speakers and anything goes." The speakers and audiences are always brilliant, creative, and funny. I've never seen it done anywhere else but always thought it would be a great and fun way for libraries to engage with the community.


Mixed Taste - ALL TOPIC PAIRS

Mixed Taste started at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver in 2004. If you really want to know how great I think this idea is, I actually spent an afternoon chasing up the history of all the topic pairs I could find. Nope, they do not exist all in one place anywhere. You're welcome.