Placemaking: A Library as a “Third Place”
Ray Oldenburg, an urban sociologist writes about the importance of “third places” for healthy functioning of communities. He describes third places as
“informal public gathering places. The phrase “third places” derives from considering our homes to be the “first” places in our lives, and our work places the “second.”
Americans long enjoyed third places in the form of the inns and ordinaries of colonial society, then as the saloons and general stores springing up with westward expansion. Later came the candy stores, soda fountains, coffee shops, diners, etc. which, along with the local post office, were conveniently located and provided the social anchors of community life.
“Third places” also suggest the stability of the tripod in contrast to the relative instability of the bipod. Life without community has produced, for many, a life style consisting mainly of a home-to-work-and-back-again shuttle.”
From Our Vanishing “Third Places” by Ray Oldenburg
As South Berwick explores the feasibility of using the St. Michael’s property as a library or other use we have the opportunity to create a new kind of civic place in our downtown.
Over the past decade and a half there has been a boom of library building around the country and these new libraries are
“moving beyond their traditional information and education functions to take leadership in developing places for civic, cultural and social exchange. … three inter-related developments appear to be the prime levers for change: (1) community-library partnerships and collaborations; (2) library programming; and (3) library-community co-location.”
From Libraries are the new commons for the 21st Century by Diantha Dow Schull
If South Berwick purchases the St. Michael’s property for a library or other use, how can we avoid mistaking space for place? As Ms. Schull points out:
A word about words: “space” does not make “place”
Public libraries are often referred to as public spaces or public places, with “space” and “place” used interchangeably. This is problematic, as the two words have different meanings. Space is defined as an undeveloped, blank area, or an area to be used for a particular purpose, whereas place signifies space that is animated by activity and imbued with meaning through cultural practice. Library Placemaking may be taken to mean the process by which public spaces are developed into meaningful public places.
From Libraries are the new commons for the 21st Century by Diantha Dow Schull
How can we as a community be intentional about creating a civic place on the St. Michael’s property? How can we create a process that fully explores how the property could be used in a way that will most enhance our community?
Tags: downtown, Library, south berwick
January 25th, 2008 at 12:12 am
thanks for this posting, Molly. Simply by expressing this as a possibility in a place such as this blog so that others can begin to think about and respond to it and expand upon it is the first step to being intentional. You have me thinking about the idea of third places and of making OUR library such a PLACE. I look forward to the input of others and to being a part of the process. So many of us long for a greater sense of community and this gives us a focus — what a potential for community building (that’s so much more than finding a building). We can be co- creators of our own third place, making our library so much more than a space which houses books, as lovely as that is. What a gift for the next seven generations. Makes me think of my reaction to the theme song of CHeers when I first heard it years ago. It resonated with that longing in all of us … I am visioning already and ready to sit down with others in a circle of belonging that grounds us in this place we call home …