St. Louis Public Library System

Mark Groth · PostJun 11, 2010#12010-06-11T13:26+00:00

The St. Louis Public Library has 17 locations:
http://www.slpl.org/slpl/library/article240098545.asp
With the central branch closing for renovations, what is your second favorite branch?

For the newer ones, I like Walnut Park and Kingshighway.
For the old classics I like Barr, Cabanne and Carondelet.

The library system is one of our strengths as a city.

PeterXCV · PostJun 11, 2010#22010-06-11T13:46+00:00

Apart from the Central Library, I'd have to say my favorite is the Carpenter Branch.

shadrach · PostJun 11, 2010#32010-06-11T14:16+00:00

I'm going to stick with close by Buder. It comes down to selection and Buder's pretty good.

As a history nut (Napoleonic Era to the Great War) most locations I've been in have lousy collections. It's either the Civil War or heavily focused on minorities or something with a revisionist bent. I'll miss Central for it's grand collection.

Mark Groth · PostJun 11, 2010#42010-06-11T16:03+00:00

PeterXCV wrote:Apart from the Central Library, I'd have to say my favorite is the Carpenter Branch.

The new addition to Carpenter is quite impressive, probably the best kids section in town. The CD selection is among the best (for my taste). The tiny parking lot off a one way street heading east to Grand drives me nuts though.

bprop · PostJun 11, 2010#52010-06-11T22:54+00:00

Central Express just because it's close and convenient to work. They have a lousy selection, but it's in a cool building.

DaronDierkes · PostJun 12, 2010#62010-06-12T17:52+00:00

Boo city-specific library system. Before we rejoin the county, let's merge library systems or at least get everyone using the same library card.

-cut redundant admin jobs
-one geneology center for the region
-one whatever other specialty you can think of
-one card in my wallet, not five
-one non-profit foundation
-one central library for the region

I'm pretty serious about this. I've yet to hear a reason why this wouldn't be a good thing other than a few jobs could be cut.

bonwich · PostJun 15, 2010#72010-06-15T18:50+00:00

DaronDierkes wrote:Boo city-specific library system. Before we rejoin the county, let's merge library systems or at least get everyone using the same library card.

-cut redundant admin jobs
-one geneology center for the region
-one whatever other specialty you can think of
-one card in my wallet, not five
-one non-profit foundation
-one central library for the region

I'm pretty serious about this. I've yet to hear a reason why this wouldn't be a good thing other than a few jobs could be cut.

Ahh, the stories I could tell about a metro-wide cooperative library system.

In any event, I'd almost bet that that systems wouldn't merge even if Hell freezes over and the city and county do. For one thing, it's not just the city and the county -- Webster, Kirkwood, U. City and probably a few others also have their own independent libraries. (Does this surprise you?)

shadrach · PostJun 15, 2010#82010-06-15T19:10+00:00

I'm sure most know this but -- the STL City card is good at STL County libraries and vice versa. One needs to fill out a form to gain access to the other system.

Some of the smaller municipalities participate in this as well but you have to have get their cards and it gets cumbersome (as Daron pointed out in his original post.)

far short of a integrated system but it's a small step.

ben1040 · PostJun 15, 2010#92010-06-15T19:49+00:00

bonwich wrote:In any event, I'd almost bet that that systems wouldn't merge even if Hell freezes over and the city and county do. For one thing, it's not just the city and the county -- Webster, Kirkwood, U. City and probably a few others also have their own independent libraries. (Does this surprise you?)

9 of em (and the 3 you name) have independent libraries, but use a shared catalog system and a card from one is good at all 8 others. Haven't tried but it looks like patrons of one library can get books pulled from the others.

http://www.mlc.lib.mo.us/

Still a lot of duplicated effort. Pulling all these little municipal libraries into the county system would be a great start. Even if the city and county never do any collaboration beyond what's going on now, at least that would mean you'd only need two cards to use any library in the region instead of a half dozen.

bonwich · PostJun 15, 2010#102010-06-15T20:59+00:00

Dear God. 25 years later, and that catalog is still using left-anchored searches for the basic level of the catalog. (If you enter Mark Twain as your author search, it only gives you authors whose author field -- last name first -- starts with "Mark.")

If they haven't been able to reach consensus on that yet, just think how long it will take to form a metropolitan consortium.

sc4mayor · PostJun 08, 2021#112021-06-08T21:02+00:00

Came across these on Facebook. Not sure I've ever seen other architect's renderings for the Central Library before. Few big names in here too:

The winner, Cass Gilbert (St. Louis Art Museum):

Theodore C. Link (Union Station):

William B. Ittner (St. Louis Public Schools):

Eames & Young (Cupples Station, the Wright):

Mauran, Russell & Garden (Railway Exchange, Soldiers Memorial):

Barnett, Haynes & Barnett (Cathedral Basilica, Jefferson Arms):

Personally, I quite like what we ended up with...especially the interior.

urban_dilettante · PostJun 08, 2021#122021-06-08T21:21+00:00

^ wow. very cool. yeah, i like Gilbert's and Link's the best. The Barnett, Hayes, Barnett design is nice too but feels a bit small or something.

Tim · PostJun 08, 2021#132021-06-08T22:26+00:00

Very cool find! The Ittner building has a LOT of similarities to the selected design.

aprice · PostJun 09, 2021#142021-06-09T01:05+00:00

Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I've never been crazy about the exterior of the library. I love the terrace surrounding it though. The real magic is the interiors. I'd be interested to see how much of the interior was detailed by Gilbert's office and if we would have gotten something similar from the other firms.
The Mauran, Russell & Garden design is actually my favorite of these. Also the only firm I didn't know the name of.

moorlander · PostJun 09, 2021#152021-06-09T01:26+00:00

We ended up with a gem. But…

I prefer a more prominent entryway seen in some of the other designs.

kipfilet · PostJun 09, 2021#162021-06-09T14:24+00:00

The Theodore Link proposal looks like the Austrian Parliament building in Vienna