6 ms·

There has been a real boom in building such modern libraries and bookstores all over China in recent years, cities have been competing with each other in buildi

There has been a real boom in building such modern libraries and bookstores all over China in recent years, cities have been competing with each other in building the coolest looking one. They're very popular with the Chinese version of Instagramers. Though I don't seen many people actually using them as libraries in most cases, especially long term once the novelty wears off. Trends come and go fast in China. Very close to BJ, the BinHai Library for example was pretty much empty when I was there last time, apart from people going in to take photos of the admittedly beautiful design. But when most of the upper shelves have fake books in them (I kid you not), it says a lot about how far China's dedication to reading goes. The average Chinese isn't interested in intellectual stuff currently, it's all about making money and reading is basically only for students to get good grades and strike well-paid jobs. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of cool modern architecture that imo doesn't get enough recognition. It's sadly rarely practical though, it's more built for prestige than anything else. The top down planning has a lot of advantages and there's certainly a lot of bold designs that architects couldn't get approved in any democratic place these days, where there are endless committees ultimately settling for the most plain and boring construction, the lowest common denominator. But these party officials also aren't really thinking about what the people need, what would make cities more livable. It reminds me a bit of Albert Speer's Germania vision. Certainly impressive and cool to look at, but maybe not a place you'd want to live long term.

graemep 3y ago
It struck me that the article was talking about the building a lot, but very little about the books. Thanks for explaining.
- ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
  Well yeah it's an architecture website.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
It's not uncommon in not-china either, public libraries are prestige buildings but it often feels like the purpose of them - books - is lost in favor of the prestige aspect. I mean I'm only seeing a few images actually showing books, and those are only three shelves tall. I'm also seeing high ceilings, literal hills made out of steps but without any apparent function other than maybe crowd photo ops, and some reading tables. But the amount of books is about the same as a small local library or bookstore. What happened to the multi-storey repositories? Endless rows of categorised books? I don't get it.
- cratermoon 3y ago
  > only three shelves tall The trend in modern libraries is for shorter shelves to improve accessibility. Not everyone is 2m tall or can climb steps and ladders. And it must be acknowledged that physical books are less important than access to knowledge, facilities for study, and librarians to assist. All of those can exist in a comfortable, quiet space with a fast internet connection, a few printers, and lots of invisible but still valuable electronic databases freely available: ProQuest, JSTOR, PubMed, ERIC, etc. Yes, it's comfy and familiar to those of use who grew up before the internet to wander among the dim stacks of dusty books and take in the aromas, but the real value of a library is the information in whatever form it takes.
  - lupusreal 3y ago
    > And it must be acknowledged that physical books are less important than access to knowledge, I guess that explains why so many libraries are tossing old books, even local history books that have probably never been digitized and will be impossible to replace, while at the same time finding money to have larger computer rooms. Libraries are forgetting their purpose, giving people access to books and other documents should come before more vague missions like "access to knowledge" which gets twisted into meaning something other than books and documents. Free internet access can be gotten all over the place. I can get online at McDonalds, but I can't get books at McDonalds.
    - fastasucan 3y ago
      I think a society shouldn't leave the responsibility of giving access to internet to those who don't get that at home (if they have one or even if they have a device) to McDonalds. Let alone a place to work, to sit and read, public lectures, meeting rooms etc. Bookstores serve your vision of a library btw.
      - lupusreal 3y ago
        I'm certainly not opposed to libraries having free internet access (everyone else does, so they might as well too) but they should remember that their foremost purpose is giving the public access to books. They should let the vague "access to knowledge" talk become an excuse to deemphasize books. And no, bookstores do not fit my vision of libraries. I specifically mentioned libraries hosting old local history books and other documents. Stuff that is long out of print, many times was never "in print" in the first place. In libraries that haven't suffered the purges as badly you can find things like binders filled with documents that a local history buff a century ago compiled, detailing town history a century before that. What bookstore has such a wealth of information? Once libraries get rid of that stuff, it's usually gone forever.
rufus_foreman 3y ago
>> Certainly impressive and cool to look at, but maybe not a place you'd want to live long term "Say this about absolute monarchies: While living under them is awful (tens if not hundreds of thousands died building St. Petersburg, their bodies laid into the foundation), they do leave behind magnificent cities. Democracies, while far more pleasant, leave behind places like Phoenix." -- https://slate.com/human-interest/2009/02/how-st-petersburg-came-to-be-so-gorgeous.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2009/02/how-st-petersburg-c...
- cafard 3y ago
  Intermittently and imperfectly democratic (or at least republican) cities such as Venice, Florence, Milan, and Rome managed to build impressive works. The English monarchs would have loved to be absolute, but didn't ever quite manage it, yet London isn't too shabby. Slate sounds a bit like Harry Lyme in The Third Man contrasting Switzerland and Florence, anyway.
friend_and_foe 3y ago
Potemkin books hahaha now I've heard everything.

graemep 3y ago

It struck me that the article was talking about the building a lot, but very little about the books. Thanks for explaining.

ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
Well yeah it's an architecture website.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

It's not uncommon in not-china either, public libraries are prestige buildings but it often feels like the purpose of them - books - is lost in favor of the prestige aspect. I mean I'm only seeing a few images actually showing books, and those are only three shelves tall. I'm also seeing high ceilings, literal hills made out of steps but without any apparent function other than maybe crowd photo ops, and some reading tables. But the amount of books is about the same as a small local library or bookstore. What happened to the multi-storey repositories? Endless rows of categorised books? I don't get it.

cratermoon 3y ago
> only three shelves tall The trend in modern libraries is for shorter shelves to improve accessibility. Not everyone is 2m tall or can climb steps and ladders. And it must be acknowledged that physical books are less important than access to knowledge, facilities for study, and librarians to assist. All of those can exist in a comfortable, quiet space with a fast internet connection, a few printers, and lots of invisible but still valuable electronic databases freely available: ProQuest, JSTOR, PubMed, ERIC, etc. Yes, it's comfy and familiar to those of use who grew up before the internet to wander among the dim stacks of dusty books and take in the aromas, but the real value of a library is the information in whatever form it takes.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  > And it must be acknowledged that physical books are less important than access to knowledge, I guess that explains why so many libraries are tossing old books, even local history books that have probably never been digitized and will be impossible to replace, while at the same time finding money to have larger computer rooms. Libraries are forgetting their purpose, giving people access to books and other documents should come before more vague missions like "access to knowledge" which gets twisted into meaning something other than books and documents. Free internet access can be gotten all over the place. I can get online at McDonalds, but I can't get books at McDonalds.
  - fastasucan 3y ago
    I think a society shouldn't leave the responsibility of giving access to internet to those who don't get that at home (if they have one or even if they have a device) to McDonalds. Let alone a place to work, to sit and read, public lectures, meeting rooms etc. Bookstores serve your vision of a library btw.
    - lupusreal 3y ago
      I'm certainly not opposed to libraries having free internet access (everyone else does, so they might as well too) but they should remember that their foremost purpose is giving the public access to books. They should let the vague "access to knowledge" talk become an excuse to deemphasize books. And no, bookstores do not fit my vision of libraries. I specifically mentioned libraries hosting old local history books and other documents. Stuff that is long out of print, many times was never "in print" in the first place. In libraries that haven't suffered the purges as badly you can find things like binders filled with documents that a local history buff a century ago compiled, detailing town history a century before that. What bookstore has such a wealth of information? Once libraries get rid of that stuff, it's usually gone forever.

rufus_foreman 3y ago

>> Certainly impressive and cool to look at, but maybe not a place you'd want to live long term "Say this about absolute monarchies: While living under them is awful (tens if not hundreds of thousands died building St. Petersburg, their bodies laid into the foundation), they do leave behind magnificent cities. Democracies, while far more pleasant, leave behind places like Phoenix." -- https://slate.com/human-interest/2009/02/how-st-petersburg-came-to-be-so-gorgeous.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2009/02/how-st-petersburg-c...

cafard 3y ago
Intermittently and imperfectly democratic (or at least republican) cities such as Venice, Florence, Milan, and Rome managed to build impressive works. The English monarchs would have loved to be absolute, but didn't ever quite manage it, yet London isn't too shabby. Slate sounds a bit like Harry Lyme in The Third Man contrasting Switzerland and Florence, anyway.

friend_and_foe 3y ago

Potemkin books hahaha now I've heard everything.