Baldwin Library Presentation of Proposed Building Plans by Fanning Howey and Victor Saroki.

Fanning  Howey Plan when completed

http://www.baldwinlib.org/assets/PDFs/LibraryBoard/Building-Presentation-12-19-11.pdf

Clicking on the red link above will produce the full 41 page Power Point  presentation of the two proposed renovation plans the Baldwin Library is considering. With big type and big pictures, intended  for an audience in the back of a big room, it read faster than  "41 pages" sounds. The striking visual material makes it easy to see the concepts at a glance.  On Tuesday we presented a words only version from the Library Board Meeting Agenda Packet.. Now you may see the whole presentation in color.Here  are  are some of the highlights.
 First you may wonder how the Baldwin Library compares to other area libraries. It is the smallest in size with the least number of study rooms. The Bloomfield Township Library is the closest library  in distance and  population size served. The BTPL is two times the size and has ten times the number of study rooms. Does that matter ? It depends on how you define the library of the 21st century. This author defines it as a library   that fits in your pocket or purse and can be accessed wherever  the communication towns are. The author's wife prefers the community center aspects of a library.

City of Bloomfield Hills residents  have never had access to a community center like the Baldwin Library. The Bloomfield township library of eight years ago is not the Baldwin Library of  today. Library Director  Doug Koschik defines the Library of the 21st Century as more of a community center than a warehouse of books. He believes  the ever increasing  role of electronic books which take up no space will reduce the need for shelving.  In it's place will be the ever growing need for computer space, study rooms, and group work space.

Fanning  Howey Plan

The first plan the Baldwin Board is considering is the Fanning Howey Plan. It is for the most part an interior only plan that will make the the library more open, inviting, and easy to navigate If adapted it will provide less shelf space than the current layout.  Color pictures in the presentation show crowded conditions  in the Birkerts addition and a complete absence of space in the Youth room. The Fanney Howey Plan will solve that and more at a reasonable cost with with an minimum disruption or services. It is estimated that the the total cost for this plan would cost $2,875,000. This plan would also maintain the the striking exterior architecture of the Birkerts addition .

Detail of  portion of Fanning Howey  Plan. Note expanded  floor space for computers group work space/study rooms.

Victor Saroki Plan

This plan by the noted Birmingham architectural firm, would go interior and exterior, whole hog. All three levels of the current structure would be enhanced. The Basement would gain a Friends of the Library Gift Shop, and outdoor/ indoor cafe and patio. The latter could be used like the Leelanau County Library in Northport Michigan. The ground level  have two entrances. One on Martin Street and one on Merill. The second  floor would be the most expanded.  In addition to more library space it would provide the possibility of roof gardens and a terrace  overlooking Shain Park for special library and civic functions. The cost of this plan is expected to be "upwards of ten million dollars" and require extensive renovation. It would be funded by a bond issue which would spread the cost over a number of years. It would also increase the interior square footage by a factor of 1.5x. On the outside it would bring the the Martin Street side of the library closer to  Bates. It  would also  make the Merrill Street exterior straight  instead of curved while providing  an arched  portico.

Saroki Proposed Second  Floor

Below are the  Saroki sketches for the exterior. The mono colored ones represent the current structure. The colored ones are what is being proposed

Pure Michigan. Pure Library. Northport, MI 49670. 24-7. A Lesson for All of Us

Birmingham Baldwin Library director Doug Koschik, usually pretty easy going guy, once expressed slightly  more than a little irritation at non resident wifi users who plugged into the Baldwin Library's electricity,  connected to the library's wifi, and stayed all day. Somebody should tell him about the Leelanau Township Library  in Northport, where mostly non residents (Northport is very tiny)  stay all day and sometimes all night using the library's electricity and wifi with nary a dirty look.

Michigan Libraries up north are not like the ones in Oakland County. Up north tourism is big business and the libraries roll out the red carpet for guests. From affluent communities like Leland on the Leelanau Peninsula  to modest ones like Kalaksaka, non residents are given equal access to computers and on the  premises facilities. In Northport a visitor may even request a library card. Many libraries have wifi high speed Internet access but what Northport's Leelanau Township Library provides is extraordinary.

24-7 Computing and Internet access on the Northport library bench. This picture was taken on Sunday Morning

My wife told me she saw people typing  on portable computers outside the Leelanau Township Library. She thought  they could connect to the Internet out there. I told  her they couldn't. They had portable computers that ran on batteries but that was about it. .When I visited the library I asked about this  and the librarian assured me they had outside wifi. I was impressed. The outside stuff only worked during library hours right ? No it was good 24 hours a day. OK but there was no electricity right ? You had to bring your own batteries right ? No there was electricity 24 hours a day. Just plug in under the bench. I was  amazed and soon found myself  using  my computer and connecting to the Internet 24-7 in company of boaters and fellow tourist  who also were in rapture of what is often referred to as the Northport Library bench.

Northport is the last town  before the tip of the Leelanau peninsula and the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. Every fall  the lighthouse hosts  Haunted Lighthouse tours. The only other thing north of Northport, is Woolsey Airport, a world war one vintage landing strip whose only guidance is a wind sock. The airport also features a functioning pay phone. In Northport you half expect  Angela Landsberry of  Murder She Wrote to ride by on her bicycle. Northport is  like New England but Pure Michigan.

And the lesson for all of  us ?  In tough times you can't go wrong by providing more than people expect.