Bibliotheque Nationale de France (BNF)
Designed by the architect Dominique Perrault and opened in 1996, the building was not without controversy despite winning the Mies van de Rohe prize (the European Union prize for contemporary architecture) in 1996. The buildings have been described as "glittering" and "futuristic in design". There is not one but four buildings or rather 24 storey (79 m high) glass towers which are L- shaped (perhaps looking like open books) and grouped together around and overlook a garden courtyard.
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| Aerial view of Bibliotheque Nationale de France |
It has been noted by Durlik (2002) that the building has been criticised as being unsuitable for a library. Controversy stemmed from the plan to house the books on the upper level of floors of the glass towers with offices below however this neglected to identify the problem of light and heat having a detrimental impact on the books themselves. To rectify the problem, protective screens and a mobile wooden light - blocking system were installed on the whole glass facade walls leading to vast cost overruns and making it a very expensive project estimated at anywhere between 600 million and 1.2 billion according to Durlik (2002).
British Library (BL)
The British Library too is a relatively new and modern building now situated in St Pancras, London which like the BNF courted controversy when it was first opened in 1998. According to Lennon (1998), once the decision had been made in 1962 that the library must move out of the British museum and move to it's own premises, it took 35 years for the project to come to fruition. This involved three revision of plans, delays due to change of government in 1979, two site changes with costs over running the original budget by five times. Indeed, it was to be the biggest public building since the National Theatre was built in 1970.
The end result?
A building of finely detailed red brickwork, multi layered terraces, a range of pitched and slate roofs, a clock tower and a large piazza style outdoor area which has been compared to the works of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and in particular his Town hall in Säynätsalo, Finland. As Lennon (1998) notes, the architect for the BL was Sir Colin St John Wilson who was an admirer of the works of Aalto.
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| British Library, St Pancras, London |
Despite being short listed for the Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling prize for excellence in architecture in 1998, the new BL has been described as a "showpiece prison", a "sixties campus" and "an out of town shopping mall". Prince Charles who is known for his love of architecture and laid the foundation stone for the new BL described the plans as "an academy for secret policemen". Even the architect for the buildings, Sir Colin St John Wilson described it as the "great British disaster".
All of these criticisms refer to the exterior of the BL. The interior, in contrast, has been highly praised for it's light and space and the inclusion of a four storey smoked glass tower which contains the Kings Library, the collection of King George III of over 65,000 items collected between 1763 and 1820.
Library of Congress (LC), Washington, USA
The Library of Congress has grown to now occupy three buildings. When Congress authorised the construction of a new building for the library in 1886, a design was prepared by Washington architects John L Smithmeyer and Paul J Pelz who designed a building in the style of the Italian Renaissance perhaps even based on the Paris Opera House. In 1892 Edward Pearce Casey began supervision of the interior, commissioning sculptures and paintings by over fifty American artists. A 23 carat gold-plated dome was also included. The Jefferson Building was opened in 1897 and was seen as a "glorious national monument" according to the LC website as well as the "largest, costliest and safest" library building in the world.
As the collection continually expanded, it became necessary to construct more buildings. Land was purchased in 1928, money appropriated in 1930 and a new building, the Adams Building was opened in 1939. This was a simple, classic structure with Art Deco features with a tunnel connecting it to the Jefferson Building. Then in 1965, a third building was authorised with construction taking place in the 1970s so that by 1981 the James Madison Memorial Building was completed and opened by President Ronald Regan. All three buildings are connected by underground passageways.
This short travel guide video shows the grand buildings and their interiors.
The most recent addition is the Packard Campus for audio visual conservation which has been built in Culpeper, Virginia which was opened in 2007. This building was constructed from a Federal Reserve storage centre and Col War bunker to house the LC's movie, television and sound recording holdings. This building contains a reproduction Art Deco theatre which provides free movie screenings to the public.
National Library of Russia (NLR), St Petersberg and Russian State Library (RSL), Moscow
The NLR was first housed in a neoclassical style building designed by architect Yegor Sokolov in the late 1700s. Several additions were made through the next century including the Gothic Hall in 1857. In 1948, a building on Fontanka Embankment was assigned to the library which now holds newspapers, music and sound and junior collections. A modern building was added on Moskovsky Prospekt in the 1980s for the extensive collection of printed books.
Today, the NLR comprises six buildings which house a collection of over 36 million items as recorded in 2010 according to the library's website.
Pashkov House, a classicist building constructed in 1786 was the original building to house the RSL in
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| Pashkov House |
References
Bibliotheque Nationale de France 2011, A view on cities, viewed 12 October 2011,
<http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/bibliothequenationale.htm>
Bibliotheque nationale de France [image], viewed 12 October 2011,
<http://www.linternaute.com/hightech/internet/photo/les-hauts-lieux-de-google-earth-du-ciel-en-3d-et-en-photos/bibliotheque-nationale-de-france.shtml>
Durlik, A 2002 'The bibliotheque nationale de France: my French experience' Libraries & Culture, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 256-268, General OneFile, Gale, viewed 12 October 2011.
Lennon, D 1998 'New library debate'
British Library [image], viewed 19 October 2011,
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/>
Nichols, T 1870 'A handy book of the
History 2010, Library of Congress, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.loc.gov/about/history.html>
Library of Congress n.d., National Park Service, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc79.htm>
Library of Congress Washington, DC (United States) - Travel Guide [video], viewed 19 October 2011,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWN4y04fcg>
Public events at the Library of Congress 2011, Library of Congress, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.loc.gov/loc/events/#eventlist9>
Locations 2011, The National Library of Russia, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.nlr.ru/eng/nlr/location.htm>
National Library of Russia 2011, Wikipedia, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_of_Russia>
Russian State Library 2011, Wikipedia, viewed 14 October 2011,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_State_Library>
The European Library 2011, RSL History, viewed 14 October 2011,
<http://search.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/en/libraryHistory.html?libraryid=34>
Pashkov House [image] , viewed 19 October 2011,
<http://spirit-of-moscow.com/S_B_Pashkov's%20house.shtml>
Research Process
Researching the information on the national library of Russia was more challenging as there were essentially two institutions which fulfilled the functions of a national library. I also needed to refresh my own background historical knowledge of Russia/USSR to understand to political changes and the impact they had on the evolution of the country's national library. Although the official websites for the two libraries were useful for facts and figures, I needed to look more broadly and widely for information. I must admit that Google was my primary choice of search engine to get me on the right track and then I could use the references and citations found in Wikipedia.
I great site I found was Project MUSE, an online database of journals from non profit publishers.
There were a couple of articles which were spot on for the detail and information I wanted which I could then source through General OneFile, Gale. This was a fantastic find!
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