Seattle 11-15 June

The journey from Vancouver to Seattle by train was stunning, with wonderful views across the Puget Sound as the sun went down. Seattle also packs a strong visual punch – I hadn’t realised how hilly it would be or how many different bodies of water there are, providing constantly different views and perspectives. The new Rem Koolhaus-designed public library in the centre of Seattle must certainly challenge everyone who experiences it, whether from outside, inside or both, into taking a  different perspective on the traditional notion of what a public library is like. Looking into and looking out of the building is wonderful.  It is not only unlike any other public library, it is unlike any building I have seen anywhere, using colour, space, form and materials to dramatic effect. No single photo would do it justice, and in any case I haven’t yet had a chance to download mine, so to get an idea you’ll have to do a google image search.

I admire the boldness of the building and those involved in commissioning it. Judging by my guidebook, it has also positioned the public library as a visitor attraction as well as asserting its presence in a local context. All 26 public libraries in the city have also been renewed or new libraries built, and in two instances completely new branch libraries have been built where there was no library before. This is how the bond was raised to provide the public support and funding necessary to make it all happen. People wouldn’t have been so willing to put their hands in their pockets if the funding raised would only have gone to a new central library. I visited one of the new libraries in the International District, which largely serves the Chinese community. On one wall, there was a wonderful display of teacups donated by local people.

I met a number of library staff, including Valerie Wonder, who is the Immigrant & Refugee Program Manager, several volunteers (some of these are from Americorps) and a colleague from a partner agency,  the St James ESL program, Jim Hodges, who coordinates their citizenship programme, again using volunteers, providing free materials , tuition and support. Many ESL and citizenship classes take place in the city’s libraries and St James and the library service work together very effectively. I was impressed with how it was all managed so smoothly, whilst being mindful that not all community-based agencies that the library works with can possibly be this organised! I was able subsequently to have an interesting discussion with Valerie as her own previous experience included working in a settlement agency.

I also sat in on a Talk Time session in the central library, also run by volunteers. Talk Time provides informal opportunities for immigrants to practice their spoken English. There were about 15 attendees, from a wide range of ages and backgrounds, including Turkish, Japanese, Chinese and Italian. This was thoroughly enjoyable and it was great to be part of an activity rather than just talking about it. Talk Time is easily transferable to other settings and a very good way of enabling informal exchange between people from different backgrounds in a library context.

Valerie’s work is following through recommendations of a Cultural Communities Task Force set up in 2003. Talking with her reinforced an increasing feeling I am getting on this trip, which is that everyone is grappling with the same issues -commitment, resources, attitudes, leadership, sharing and learning from good practice and the time needed to build relationships of trust that lead to sustained innovation and systemic change, rather than individually valuable projects .  Her work in Seattle is starting to emphasise the role of the library in the development of life skills and she has started with a series of legal clinics (provided pro bono by lawyers in the city) in relevant languages to support particular needs.

Apart from walking my feet off to try and get a feel for the city  and spending time with library staff, I also spent a fascinating afternoon with Chrystie Hill and colleagues at webjunction. This grew out a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide a portal for public libraries and other organisations that provide public access to information. It is impossible to do justice to the site here, or to the energy of the staff team I met. Suffice to say the website is very rich in content, providing a mixture of online training and other resources to support libraries in community building, advocacy, marketing and peer-to-peer support and sharing of good practice and experience. Bizarrely, though I spent far more time than I meant to talking about work in the UK, I nonetheless came away with lots of ideas about possible ways to share practice issues internationally. There is already plenty of material on the site which can be transferred to other contexts, so I thoroughly recommend taking a close look.