The new Belle Sherman Kendall Library in West Houston will have a little something extra inside: a half-court basketball gym. The ceremonial groundbreaking took place Monday on the site near Buffalo Bayou:
Besides housing a library and a community center, the building will be the first three-story building in the Houston system, and the first to have a drive-up window.
The site at 609 N. Eldridge will also serve as a city park and a trailhead to Terry Hershey Park. . . . At Kendall’s drive-up window, users will be able to return books, pick-up books they’ve reserved, and pay fines.
- New Kendall will be library, community center [Memorial Examiner]
What’s a Library?
They still build those?
I thought it’s where homeless go to bath and watch porn?
I’m assuming you’re just trying to wind us up there kjb so I’ll try not to take the bait. Houston has 30 something libraries and has actually been building a few. The LEED certified Looscan library that they opened in 07 is a real pleasure to use. I just wish they would devote more funding to renovating and updating some of the older branches like the Heights Blvd library.
I’m not trying to ratchet anything up. Just making a joke.
Library spending in one of the areas I feel government really should do more, but it’s hard to justify when anybody can buy books relatively cheaply and even get electronic ones to read on new devices like the Kindle.
I’d be curious to see what get’s used more, the basketball court or the library.
What about the current location on Memorial? I assume they will just raze it. I personally think that it will be a loss for the city. The current location has a true sense of time and place.
Not everybody can afford books and even those who can afford them may chose not to buy books they’ll read once and then leave on a shelf. Libraries have a lot more resources than just books, too, including DVD’s, downloadable books, online access to materials and computers for people who can’t afford them.
From Chris:
What about the current location on Memorial? I assume they will just raze it. I personally think that it will be a loss for the city. The current location has a true sense of time and place.
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Chris,
HPL tried for two years to negotiate a land deal with SBISD in order for the new Kendall to be built on the same site. The existing site as you know, is adjacent to an elementary and middle school, and many nearby high density residential developments. To be blunt, SBISD did not deal with HPL reasonably and after two years, HPL had to move on – to the new site on Eldridge that was already owned by the COH. The existing facility is greatly undersized and been scheduled for replacement for years.
From kjb434:
Library spending in one of the areas I feel government really should do more, but it’s hard to justify when anybody can buy books relatively cheaply and even get electronic ones to read on new devices like the Kindle.
I’d be curious to see what get’s used more, the basketball court or the library.
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If one thinks that all libraries have to offer is books, then one might think that funding them is “hard to justify”. Without writing a novel, let me just suggest that HPL and most big-city libraries offer hundreds of databases of information on every subject imaginable; internet access and computer access to people without them; free computer classes on everything from “how to use google” to multi-level courses in Microsoft Office products (job skills); to “how to write and submit an online resume”; to …..in multiple languages, and for different age groups including seniors only classes.
The resources and knowledge available from professional librarians is enormous. The variety and depth of professional journals, govt. documents, and media resources is amazing. Too many people think that googling is all they need to do to research any particular subject, but the legitimacy of the information available from base level internet searches cannot yet compete with the depth and reliability of resources available in major library systems like HPL.
Public libraries offer a dizzying variety of programs for children and teens everyday, for parents and on parenting. They offer access to authors through literary lectures and events, and provide public (free) meeting space for everything from the Girl Scouts to civic clubs.
HPL offers cds, video games, and dvds; audiobooks, e-books for direct download; and offers equipment and software to allow those with a variety of disabilities to access its resources.
I said I wouldn’t write a novel, but this accounting is the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t touched on HPL’s historical archives, it’s Top 5 ranked genealogical resources, and other special collections and servcies. All of this costs lots of money, and almost all of it is available seven days a week at no costs/fees to the users. (It’s not really free – taxes pay for most of it) HPL is famously (I think embarrassingly) underfunded per capita compared to most large American cities and would not be able to provide all that it does without grants and the efforts of the Houston Library Foundation.
Yet all you need to use all of this is a free library card. It’s the absolute best use of my taxes that this city has to offer.