“We're not just remodeling to remodel,” said library director Honore Bray. “Everything that we're doing should make it easier for the patrons.”
The library, at 301 E. Main St., started work roughly a year ago on a redesign that's as much a philosophical change as a physical one. For starters, employees are going to rove the stacks to be more accessible to clients. Also, they're aiming for one-stop shopping when it comes to customer questions. In other words, a client with a question that isn't related to children's books still can find the answer at the children's desk.
The new offerings are many, said public relations librarian Joyce Doyle. They include quiet study rooms, where people can work behind closed doors. New work desks. A walled wing dedicated to young adults. A reading lounge complete with leather chairs and eye-friendly lighting. Jazzy “power walls” designed to mimic bookstore shelves where customers browse. (“Staff picks” is one example, “Read it for the title” another.) And “Entertainment Central,” where the library consolidated its collection of video and audio material, earning praise from longtime customers.
“I think it's exciting,” said Carol Brett, a patron who has been going to the library for some 30 years. “I think the ‘Entertainment Central' is just a wonderful service to modernize the library and to bring in new customers.”
Mostly, the additions and changes are in response to patron requests, Doyle said. She said Missoula workers visited libraries in Montana, Washington and Canada to research the features they wanted to bring to their institution.
“They really took a survey of what was working out there so we could have it here,” Doyle said. “Hopefully, everyone else worked out the kinks, and we just get the advantages.”
Heading into the area dedicated to youth, patrons walk through glass doors etched with the words “Young Adult.” The section is walled off from the rest of the library, and inside there's a couch, computers and an enormous collection of comics, including Japanese-style manga comics. There are talkative kids and librarians who won't shush them.
“You can just be a teen here, which is cool,” Doyle said.
Early Monday afternoon, Jason Haroldson was on a computer in the “Young Adult” area looking up a credit on YouTube. Haroldson, 19, visits the library once or twice a week and said he's thinking about joining its young writers' group. He's been going to the Missoula library since he was a sixth-grader and likes its transformation.
“I thought it was incredible, personally,” Haroldson said. “I saw all the construction through here, and it was a mess ... but most construction is. And after they had finished everything, I just couldn't believe ... how good it looked. It was impressive.”
Director Bray described the new offerings at the library as “patron-centered services.” The changes are both about the things patrons want and also about the things they can do for themselves. For instance, people who put holds on books can now pick up those books themselves on shelves open to the public. The books are wrapped for privacy. In the past, someone who had a hold on a book had to wait in line, ask a librarian to get the book, and maybe get bumped in line while waiting.
Also, workers will move through the library to be accessible to patrons. Dana McMurray, who worked the desk in the “Young Adult” section, said librarians don't want to be intrusive or pounce on customers. But he said once he's in the stacks, he quietly announces he's willing to help.
“My favorite one is, ‘If you need help, let me know,' ” McMurray said, and he said some three-quarters of the patrons take him up on the offer.
In the future, customers also will be able to check out books themselves at a self-serve desk. It's a feature Brett said should be a plus, as long as it's simple and user-friendly.
“It will probably speed things up because they do get very busy at the checkout,” Brett said.
The self-checkout desk is part of the final phase. The last haul also includes creating new return slots so customers don't get stuck in a corner when they return books and DVDs, a redesigned workroom to get materials back on the shelves more quickly, and a new curved checkout desk.
Doyle said if construction goes as planned, it should be complete before the end of the year. Oz Architects and D. Lower Construction Inc. are working on the changes and Bray is pleased the library is spending the majority of renovation funds locally.
Currently, the library has 53,492 card holders. In 2007, reference librarians answered 31,705 questions. That same year, the library circulated 693,719 items.
For more data about the library, including results from “National Library Card Signup Month,” go to www.missoularedtape.com.
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