ABSTRACT
Do libraries have a future? There is no doubt they do, as the current wave of library-building across the world confirms. However, new designs for libraries will be much more site-specific in their future configurations, and their programme will be adapted to meet local social and demographic circumstances, along with the likelihood of more shared or co-located facilities and funding partners. In the USA the grand city library has become a focal point of urban renewal, and the same is true in the UK. These new libraries are no longer service-stations but destination buildings in their own right, and require architectural imagination to succeed. In an otherwise highly commercialised urban centre, the public library acts as a beacon of civility and will be increasingly valued as such.
