Shannon Christine Mattern

Examines the planning and design of several major public library building projects since the early 1990s to see how architecture reflects the evolving and diverse meanings and purposes of these public spaces. A sample:

"Dialogue and action surrounding the design of libraries, and the subsequent use of these buildings, have marked many flashpoints of public interest, including debates over the ownership of information and the privacy of one's media use. The public library is also the site of battles between localism and globalism, the civic and commercial, the material and the immaterial. The public library is wrapped up in political ethical, and moral issues. Library design should concern anyone with a vested interest in how new library buildings are inserted into civic spaces--that is, anyone who uses, walks by, or drives past a public library building. These issues should also interest anyone concerned with the quality of design in the public realm and, more generally, anyone concerned with the broad and effective exercise of public processes and democracy" (x).… (mere)