The Temporary Library

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Renovation Temporary Building



250,000 library materials (books, videos, etc) needed to be moved to the temporary building. Conveniently, they only need to move to the opposite side of the Muntplein (the city square). This didn't just make the move easier for the librarians, but also for the patrons, who won't have trouble finding the temporary building. The move took 5 weeks, during which the library was closed.



People with 130 different nationalities use the Dutch-language Library of Brussels, which serves these patrons by not just offering Dutch books, but also books in foreign languages such as Turkish. The library also offers space for teens to do their homework and provides computers for public use. The library aims to make the library as accessible as possible.



The renovation and the move combined cost 1 million euros.







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Library Closes for 5 Weeks



This video offers some good shots of the original library before the renovation. It shows how the people get to say farewell to the old library by being driven out by the man with the saxophone at closing time. To make the move easier, people are allowed to check out more materials than usual, and borrowing media is free (normally the library charges a small fee per item). Every single CD was checked out by the end of the day!







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Library Open Again



A video of the opening of the temporary library, with some shots of the party discussed in the previous post. Because the temporary library is smaller, some items are in storage, and available only on request. You can have another look at the directional arrows on the floor and walls, that I mentioned in a previous post. Another feature to help patrons find what they need is the big text on the walls "NON-FICTIE", "INTERNET", etc. The library isn't as nice as the previous library, but quite functional. And once you're lost in a good book, you won't notice your surroundings anyway.



Toward the end of the video some more pictures of what the new library will look like in 2011. The architect and a government official talk about how the new library will allow people to find comfortable places to sit, and how popular authors will be invited to talk about their books. In the final shots, you can see how in the temporary library there are some books on renovations on display, such as "Fun Rooms", for those patrons who have become inspired.