Mixed feelings about the renovations at HPL central

I took a personal tour of the newly renovated central branch of the Houston Public Library. I have to say, elated as I was that my old main library was back in operation again after a long hiatus, well, it's like that awkward feeling you get when a girl you secretly like changes her hairstyle...for the worse. You're tongue tied. You can't REALLY tell her what you think and so you say "looks great", or something equally innocuous. It would be too gauche to say "I liked the way you had it before", even if that's how you really feel.

In the case of HPL, it's not as though I necessarily liked the "before" better than the "after" picture here (you all are shocked, I can tell). No, it's just that after all the facelifts, nips and tucks, you'd think the result would be better than it is.

In no particular order, the biggest changes...the Elevators--gone. No big loss, really, as nearly half of them tended to be out of service at any given moment and you had to walk up them anyway. They've been replaced by a central stairway and elevator.

Children's library--was in the basement, now on the very top floor. Not so crazy about this change either, because it displaces the media library that was on the 4th floor. More on that in a minute. Anyway, so you're making the kiddos either ride the elevator or climb a lot of stairs, and heaven forbid if the elevator ever konks out. Lots of tired, surly kids going up and down those stairs, through the center of the building, making noise that can be heard all over the building, since it's an open and exposed staircase. My personal preference would've been to keep them in the basement, as always.

The basement itself is now 100% enclosed staff workspace, and a white, clinical void for patrons, with one lone security guard. The parking garage is similarly transformed. The public elevator is now the staff elevator. The new public elevator is located in a sterile, white room, encased in Plexiglas, with one lone security guard at what looks like a lectern, and an automated ticket teller machine (heaven help you if you don't have exact change, since the guard can't.). I know this saves from having to have the security guards put in a shift as the gate teller, and that it had been like that even before the renovation, but I still don't like it.

More staff reductions on the first floor. The good news, more check out lanes, on BOTH sides now. The not-so-good news--all nearly 100% automated with exactly 1 circ clerk to handle any issues (like fines & blocks, etc) and one security guard.

Media Library...abolished; VHS holdings--gone. I can sort of understand that...I myself switched to DVDs after I broke down and bought a PS2 (i.e. when the PS3 came out--I'm always a generation behind on Playstation units; I was enjoying the hell outta my PSX when PS2 was all the rage). But what really gets my goat is that I *KNOW* they didn't replace all the VHS holdings with equally ample DVD holdings. These are MUCH reduced today. Ironic for me, the notorious book snob, to complain about HPL's Media Library policies, but I love AV media, actually; It's just that I prefer the more elevated discourse of educational Documentaries, Human interest films, Artsy and Foreign flicks...i.e. the stuff most Blockbuster outlets will at most devote one aisle to and would prefer not to go near with a 10 foot pole if they could.
Libraries can do a great service in picking up that slack, and sometimes they have modest successes.

Their audiobook collection also shows signs of heavy weeding...all CDs now, no audiocassettes that I saw, though I could be wrong. It was certainly CD-dominant if not 100%. Again, sign of the times, not that much of a surprise. I was glad that they had more titles from the Teaching Company and in principle the fact that all the titles were in DVD format shouldn't have been an issue, but...Look, I know the Teaching company offers ALL their lectures on audio as well as on DVD, but some titles make a LOT more sense on video than others...like Mathematics topics or Art appreciation topics, something with a visual element as a legitimate part of the material, not just filler material for the voice overs. Which is what they were stuck with with the titles they selected...a series on Shakespeare, another on Hitler, etc. These are primarily lecture courses, mind you, so you won't be seeing moving visual clips from Leni Riefenstahl on the Hitler lecture, I bet. What HPL has done is virtually guaranteed that nobody will check these DVDs out. Even I would hesitate whereas if they were audio-CDs, I wouldn't hesitate to check them out. An Audio CD is something I can burn onto my iPod and take with me...a DVD isn't. I'd prefer cassettes for my tape deck in my car, but again, that's the latent Luddite impulse in me. I have a CD adapter of course...I decided I wouldn't pass up Bill Bryson or Sarah Vowell's latest on audio over a mere formatting quibble. Though I must say I was delighted to be able to order David Sedaris's latest work When you are engulfed in flames on audiocassette. That was totally bad ass, thank you David, thank you thank you.


Library geek that I am, of course I had to stroll through the 000's, to check out the LIS material. Still pretty robust, though I wish they wouldn't have weeded so much of Alternative Library Literature, the biennial anthology. They ditched all but the last volume, 2000-2001, which is a shame because the earlier volumes had lots of good material as well, some of it quite timeless. They also had updated DDC22's, having replaced the earlier DDC21's they did have. I did finally get a used copy of the DDC21 for my own curiosity. But on the whole, the LIS collection at HPL has undergone some shrinkage, and that's also unfortunate.

In the Foreign Language collection, the library has nearly abandoned bibliographic control altogether. It's a Dewey-Free zone. Now just a basic language code (SP, Fr, G, Ru, Vo) and the first 5 or so letters of the author's last name, alphabetized. The selections for the German books were fair-to-middlin'; some pieces of belle lettres and pieces of translated English bestseller crap from the US and UK (too much of the latter for my taste). I suppose I should be happy they still HAVE a foreign language section and that some stupid nativist English-only bunch of nutjobs hasn't lobbied to shut it down yet.

The plaza of the Library has been festively painted with geometric square and rectangular patterns in primary colors. It's ok, but doesn't really move me. I was upset that they'd removed the metal sculpture out front. It's not gone completely, they just moved it up a block to front Smith Street, but still, it looks out of place next to the more classical building design of the older branch of the library where the Texas state documents, genealogical and local records are kept. That modernist piece of sculpture clashes completely next to this building, but I'm glad it was preserved in some form, though they should've just left it where it was.

Also, as a concealed carry permit holder, I noticed the library is a 30.06 regulated "gun free zone"; It always has been, actually--it just irks the sh*t out of me now that I'm more aware of the issue and have a stake in it. The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas also has a 30.06 sign. As if signage there would've made a difference back on November 22, 1963, but I digress.

I guess the best thing I can say about HPL Central branch is, I'm glad you're back in operation, baby. Not sure about the new look, but I guess it'll grow on me eventually.