Slog - Comments on Lost in the Stacks http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks No doubt, it's easy to get lost in the Central Library. So SPL has hired a "wayfarer" or "wayfinder" or some such nautical-sounding employee to make some tourist-friendly signs. But will the signs point to the "Mixing Chamber" (a dorky, unrevealing name nobody really uses) or will they adopt more friendly nomenclature? I vote for "This way to the Plastic Tomato Womb."... Copyright 2007 Wed, 06 Sep 2006 11:44:26 -0800 Wed, 06 Sep 2006 21:40:08 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by socialarsonist the best thing about that floor, which you can't tell from the photos, is that its the conference room floor and all over the walls is text from "robert's rules of order". brilliant!

i love the tomato womb!

]]> socialarsonist http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458238 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458238 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:13:43 -0800 Comment by red tape another good use of tax payer dollars...NOT

That place is wearing like a 1970's leisure suit.

]]> red tape http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458239 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458239 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:13:56 -0800 Comment by city of seattle The library is WORLD CLASS!!!!! It's just as good as anything in San Francisco!!! Really, it is!!!!!

]]> city of seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458257 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458257 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:41:55 -0800 Comment by Red Tape yes...so true. if the press in seattle buys the world class hype and passes it on to the great unwashed - it must be true.

]]> Red Tape http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458275 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458275 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:53:17 -0800 Comment by charles Not All Who Wander Are Lost, But It's a Smart Way to Bet in the Downtown Library

]]> charles http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458280 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458280 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 13:00:13 -0800 Comment by kinaidos What the tomato womb photo looks like to me: a microphone's vista on Charle Mudede singing karaoke in red footlights.

My least favorite feature of the library - the roach motel character of the escalator - patrons go in, but they never leave!! Or rather they are forced to descend in elevator boxes or in the not-meant-for-public stairwell. They should at least reverse the escalator every two hours or so. That could be fun. Reverse the top stage first so that people pile up on the book spiral landing. Noooooo not boooooks!

]]> kinaidos http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458288 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458288 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 13:06:25 -0800 Comment by World Class The Seattle Public Library is the most important new building this millenium. It feels like an airport inside because it's a place for thoughts to take flight.

]]> World Class http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458380 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458380 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:35:45 -0800 Comment by red tape "The Seattle Public Library is the most important new building this millenium. It feels like an airport inside because it's a place for thoughts to take flight."

If that's what you have to believe...

]]> red tape http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458385 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458385 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:39:27 -0800 Comment by gfish Obviously you just haven't learned whatever the Central Library is supposed to be teaching us.

]]> gfish http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458386 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458386 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:39:31 -0800 Comment by Dan Savage How come no one has committed suicide in the library yet? It all but begs people to jump from that diving board.

If we were a world-class city we would have a suicide in the library once a week.

And rapid transit.

]]> Dan Savage http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458392 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458392 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:45:17 -0800 Comment by Seattle Native If you all hate Seattle so much why did you move here? You are all rich and could afford to live anywhere. Why not move to Paris? Chicago?


Instead of whining about rapid transit, why not move to a city that has it? The West Coast was designed for the automobile. Get over it or move.

]]> Seattle Native http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458404 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458404 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:59:47 -0800 Comment by Love my car Thank you. I love my car, and I love driving. Whining anti-car babies should try complaining in L.A. a city that is totally designed for automobiles. Seattle's a great town but I'm sick of people who always want to feel upset and morally superior. We drive cars, so what? Riding a subway doesn't make you holier-than-thou. I don't care about rapid transit, it's a waste of money.

]]> Love my car http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458423 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458423 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 15:10:30 -0800 Comment by Jensen Interceptor
The question that should be asked is, "Just how much are they paying that new-hire to make signs?" I bet is is more (with bennies too)
than the average writer at the Stranger is receiving....What's your guess, Annie?

---Jensen

]]> Jensen Interceptor http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458438 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458438 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 15:24:47 -0800 Comment by Seattle Native Being born here doesn't give you carte blanche to be stupid, but a lot of the natives seem to think it does.

Sell your houses, take your profit (which you deserve) and move to Spokane. You'll feel much more at home there.

]]> Seattle Native http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458477 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458477 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:10:58 -0800 Comment by Fnarf It said $45,000 in the paper the other day.

This is so typical: big-shot architect + whiny nickel-and-diming client = stylish building that's impossible to use. NO SIGNS! That's just...typical. Architects don't believe in signs, they ruin the lines. Much better to guide them with symbolism, though whether the symbolism works is immaterial, since neither Koolhaas nor the top library brass have been near a book in decades.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458491 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458491 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:32:21 -0800 Comment by Jensen Interceptor Here are the hours for the downtown
library:

Monday: 10 am - 8 pm
Tuesday: 10 am - 8 pm
Wednesday: 10 am - 8 pm
Thursday: 10 am - 8 pm
Friday: 10 am - 6 pm
Saturday: 10 am - 6 pm
Sunday: 12 pm - 6 pm

Not particularly user friendly.
The joint isn't open long enough
on a daily basis for one to commit
a decent suicide.

However the SLB has the funds to
finance $45,000 for a position to
create signage? How much was spent
last year adding to the collection?
Not much, I suspect.

Classic Seattle....all show and no
GD substance.

---Jensen

]]> Jensen Interceptor http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458522 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458522 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 17:07:10 -0800 Comment by ixtab The square "couch things" on the top floor have holes in the fabric and they feel cheap when you sit on them - like Ikea foam cushion cheap. Some of the arms are permanently nasty from nasty heads sleeping there. The dewey decimals in the floor in some of the stacks are wearing badly from foot traffic, the elevator interiors invite the kind of vandalism that is difficult to repair (namely scratches on shiny metal surfaces), the yellow escalators seem constantly in need of cleaning, the effect of the beautiful embossed floor in the checkout area is ruined by a coat of black shoe marks... it's sad how something so expensive can feel so crappy. I like the building itself, the outside is nifty - slanty walls of diamond shapes and whatnot - but the interior decorative decisions look like they were made at the last minute and with way too few dollars. The Central Library to me seems like a cool concept largely executed badly. I forgive them because they somehow managed to figure out how to store 1.45 million books there. It's about the books anyway, right?

]]> ixtab http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458536 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458536 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 17:22:06 -0800 Comment by ixtab And yeah, what Jensen said. The hours suck. But if you have a laptop, you can jump on their free wifi network outside the building while sitting on the benches near the main entrance. But yeah, the hours suck.

]]> ixtab http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458538 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458538 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 17:24:55 -0800 Comment by DOD I was really slow to warm up to the new library. I'm still on the fence about the look of the outside, but I LOVE the inside. While in some respects it may make a better modern art museum, it remains a fantastic library. User friendly for the most part and endlessly intriguing. I just visited the brand new downtown library in Minneapolis and that building by comparison is as appealing as a shoe box. It’s almost institutional. Our downtown branch has raised the bar for what a public library can be. My MN friends who've visited here couldn't agree more.

]]> DOD http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458539 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458539 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 17:25:16 -0800 Comment by christopher hong my ex, a library employee refers to the heretofore christened "tomato womb" as "satan's vagina." tomato/satan-o?

]]> christopher hong http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458606 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458606 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 19:41:23 -0800 Comment by Gomez Do we really need a $45K sign-maker? Couldn't you just run an existing staffer over to said lost person and ask, "May I help you?" Or maybe just post regular signs pointing to and from the book stacks. All you need is Photoshop and some 2'x3' foam core pieces, along with someone to run and get the files from Kinko's: BOOM, done.

Oh wait, that wouldn't allow the city to needlessly waste money. Right.

Also, the Central Library is indeed top fucking shelf (pun intended?).

]]> Gomez http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458655 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458655 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 21:14:33 -0800 Comment by city of seattle I still say it's world class. And prettier than anything in San Francisco.

That San Francisco really frosts my onion. Why does our Federal Reserve have to be a branch of the San Francisco Federal Reserve?!?!?! It's not fair!!!!!

I have just as many homosexuals as San Francisco, and I bet you my Macy's is just as big.

]]> city of seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458673 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/09/lost_in_the_stacks#c458673 City Wed, 06 Sep 2006 21:40:08 -0800