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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

New Chapter For Vancouver High-Tech Library Popular, Makes Bold Statement

John Mitchell Special To Travel

When this city’s new Coliseum-style public library opened in :May 1995, it was not without critics. Some called the imposing building pretentious, while others compared it to a shopping mall. However, the library fast became one of British Columbia’s most popular landmarks, and a favorite hangout for Vancouverites and tourists alike.

This striking circular structure with sweeping arches and towering columns is also a symbol of Vancouver’s new-found prosperity and increasing status on the world scene. With it, Canada’s third largest metropolis joins an expanding empire of cities across North America - including San Antonio, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago - that have constructed powerful libraries driven by new information technology.

Moshe Safdie, known internationally for his daring architectural works, designed the controversial building. Safdie’s other accomplishments include the futuristic Habitat development in Montreal, the National Gallery of Canada, Quebec City’s Museum of Civilization and, most recently, Vancouver’s new steamboat-shaped Ford Center for the Performing Arts across the street from Library Square.

Despite the library’s obvious resemblance to the Roman Coliseum, you won’t find anyone being thrown to the lions here. The more than 8,000 visitors a day - a great many of them tourists - come to engage in more civilized pastimes.

Some choose to sit and sip cappucino, enjoy a slice of gourmet pizza, or nibble sushi in trendy establishments lining the library’s elliptical retail promenade.

Ambitious online types prefer to “surf the Net” and rummage through databases on the library’s 239 computer terminals, while traditionalists are content to browse through the facility’s 1.2 million books, audiovisual materials, and periodicals.

It took more than two years to complete the seven-floor, 390,000-square-foot library and stock its 15 miles of shelves. Seats for 1,200 patrons sprawl among the building’s concrete columns and around its perimeter. On upper floors, bridges spanning the library’s cavernous interior lead to the Reading Gallery, where floor-to-ceiling windows offer inspiring views of Vancouver’s changing landscape.

Hidden behind the library’s walls and raised floors are 32 miles of conventional and fiber-optic cables. Books and other materials move surreptitiously up and down the high-tech building along computer-guided conveyor belts. On the main floor, borrowers insert their library cards into automated checkout machines, or line up in more conventional fashion to place holds on monumental works such as Madonna’s “Sex,” which has a three-year waiting list.

On a more wholesome note, children will find a state-of-the-art library designed just for them on the building’s lower level. In cozy alcoves dubbed “exploration galleries,” young multimedia addicts can access CD-ROMs and interactive educational programs, or listen to tapes and wander through books and magazines. There’s also a toddlers area with giant foam building blocks, along with a parents’ lounge looking out onto a soothing fountain.

Even the building’s exterior reflects Vancouver’s state of flux. Finished in slabs of precast cement mixed with crushed granite from Horsefly, British Columbia, the chameleonlike structure changes hues throughout the day - from cool pink at high noon to a warm reddish-brown at sunset. A stepped plaza curving out from the main entrance is dear to sun worshipers and those sneaking out for a guilty betweenbooks cigarette.

Planted like the hub of a gigantic wheel at the center of downtown, the library complex also makes a convenient starting point for branching out into some of the city’s most popular neighborhoods.

To the west, Robson Street’s upscale gift shops and clothing boutiques throng with labelconscious shoppers from around the globe. Those weary of consumerism will find cultural stimulation behind the imposing neoclassical facade of the Vancouver Art Gallery, and nature lovers can continue trekking to Stanley Park, a spectacular patch of West Coast rain forest that persists on the city’s Pacific shores.

Farther to the east lies funky Commercial Drive, with its authentic Italian restaurants, ethnic markets, and hangouts frequented by the young and alternative crowd. The restored Victorian buildings and art galleries of historic Gastown, along with the largest Chinatown in Canada, await exploration to the north.

Only a few blocks south of the library’s main entrance, bookish types looking for a change can enjoy fine dining or a game of billiards in Yaletown, a rejuvenated warehouse district that also has become one of Vancouver’s newest places to see and be seen.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO The Vancouver Public Library is located at the corner of Robson and Homer streets, two blocks east of Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. Call (604) 331-3601 for information on library tours, or pick up a self-guided architectural tour brochure at the library’s main desk. A well stocked library bookstore on level two carries souvenirs and gifts for bibliophiles. For more information, call (604) 331-3601 or visit the Vancouver Public Library’s public page on the Internet at www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca. Tourist information: The Travel Infocenter at 200 Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver offers a free hotelreservation and information service. Call (800) 663-6000 from the U.S. or visit them on the Internet at www.travel.bc.ca. Guidebooks: Two excellent guidebooks available in Vancouver bookstores are “The Ultimate Guide - Vancouver” (Greystone Books, C$16.95) and “Vancouver - The Essential Architectural Guide” (UBC Press, C$19.95).

This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO The Vancouver Public Library is located at the corner of Robson and Homer streets, two blocks east of Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. Call (604) 331-3601 for information on library tours, or pick up a self-guided architectural tour brochure at the library’s main desk. A well stocked library bookstore on level two carries souvenirs and gifts for bibliophiles. For more information, call (604) 331-3601 or visit the Vancouver Public Library’s public page on the Internet at www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca. Tourist information: The Travel Infocenter at 200 Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver offers a free hotelreservation and information service. Call (800) 663-6000 from the U.S. or visit them on the Internet at www.travel.bc.ca. Guidebooks: Two excellent guidebooks available in Vancouver bookstores are “The Ultimate Guide - Vancouver” (Greystone Books, C$16.95) and “Vancouver - The Essential Architectural Guide” (UBC Press, C$19.95).