ABSTRACT
The first Victorian public libraries were monuments to the ideal of municipal reform and the rise of civic culture. In the great cities they often took the form of monumental, neo-classical buildings, with flights of steps leading up to imposing entrance doors, with highly regulated spaces within. Reading rooms were often circular in design, allowing the world of human knowledge to be taken in one long sweep, as well as making surveillance of the library easier from a central control desk. The very word ‘LIBRARY’ was regarded as an emblem of a universal ideal, and of a building type that was central to the idea of democracy and an educated citizenry. Over time library design went through a number of distinct phases, from the early Victorian ‘Civic’ buildings to the ‘Welfare State’ library, with other key moments in between. Today we are seeing emerge a new kind of civic building, a meeting place for global technology, citizenship and cultural democracy.
