OK, I do admit, offensive headline, but that's the experience I got today at the Stamford library trying to take out a book. I haven't been to the Stamford Ferguson library in a while, over a year perhaps... I had my library card registered there, because in the past, I did use it quite a lot. But since the apparent renovation, the new carpet on the staircase, and the strange sense of antiseptic atmosphere, things have changed, perhaps not for the better.
First I walked in to leave hand outs at the door, but guess what, no more bulletin board, no more area to leave literature for local events... oh there was a bin, next to the information desk, with many shelves for that purpose, but it was for the most part empty, except for one poster for the Palace theater. That's a clear message to the community that your independent artistic activities are not welcome there.
There was one book I would have liked to check out, but when they saw my Weston library card, they handed me a two page questionnaire, requiring daytime and evening phone numbers, email address, and everything else which is ALREADY in the Bibliomation data base!!! A loud and clear message that if you're not from Stamford, we really don't want you there borrowing our books... go back home to your affluent suburb, leave us alone!
It didn't used to be that way, the Ferguson library was a great community space, but I suspect since the corporate inclusion of Starbucks within their walls, the institution has become a slave to the bureaucratic machine that is strangling our quality of life. Loosen up, will you, take a chill pill.
What's the point of a renovated library if it loses its soul?
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