Beautiful Libraries in Challenging Times

Today's announcement of the 2023 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards arrives the same month as the ALA's "The State of America's Libraries 2023" report, in which executive director Tracie D. Hall writes that, despite being overwhelmed with threats over censorship, “libraries have proven themselves to be among the most adaptable of public and community-serving institutions.” 

While the handful of libraries winning awards this year were built before recent government actions over censorship were making headlines, they nevertheless had to contend with the coronavirus pandemic, the ever-present threats of reduced funding, and other existential issues. Far more than repositories of knowledge in the form of storing books, libraries are community spaces that provide mental health and trauma resources, safe spaces for widely diverse populations, hubs for digital technology, maker spaces with equipment for creating podcasts … the list is almost endless.

With the various programs provided by libraries, as considering the diverse types of libraries that exist  (public, school, university, specialized, etc.), architecture plays an increasingly important role in the success of these institutions. Architects shape them into welcoming and comfortable spaces that balance the needs of librarians and the public, while making them sustainable, in the most general sense of the term. These qualities are evident in the five winning libraries:

• Atherton Library in Atherton, California, by WRNS Studio
• Louisville Free Public Library Northeast Regional Public Library in Louisville, Kentucky, by MSR Design and JRA Architects
• Missoula Public Library New Main Library in Missoula, Montana, by MSR Design and A&E Design
• Student Success District, University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, by The Miller Hull Partnership LLP and Poster Mirto McDonald
• Woburn Public Library in Woburn, Massachusetts, by CBT

Visit the AIA website via the links above for more information on the winning libraries.

• Dianne Chia, AIA, Chair, Pfeiffer, New York
• Stacy Bourne, FAIA, The Bourne Group, USVI
• Michael Crumpton, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Greensboro, N.C.
• Clem Guthro, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu
• David Powell, FAIA, Hastings Architecture, Nashville, Tenn.