Over the last couple of years the local shopping centre has been undergoing a facelift, a big extension. There is some really great stuff happening and it will be exciting to see the finished result. New shops, a link up to the local railway station making it a little safer to travel and some great new eating and coffee shops too.
One stage of this development opened to the public in the last couple of weeks. The new shops are lovely, new, bright, airy. A fresh feeling about them. it’s a nice pleasant feeling to wander and see the changes, to see what some of the new retailers are.
One part of this new opening is the new library. I was looking forward to this development. I am quite a fan of libraries. They tend, mostly, to be havens of quietness, escapes from the hustle and bustle of the noisy shopping centre, a refuge from the sensory assault of noisy environments and multiple strands of communication, buzzing fluorescent lights, crowded unpredictable walkways.
This new library is a three level building, the actual library occupies the middle level. The local council has a business hub space on the top floor, the bottom floor is a mix of an art gallery space, some areas for sitting to read or chat with friends complete with power to tables to plug-in devices to charge, and a cafe space.
On seeing this new library space I felt positive and quite excited about it. I went to visit it on the weekend with two of my three girls. We travelled the stairs to the middle floor to check out the library space.
It’s all over the place. Shelves running in all different directions, no clear defined service space where you can find the library staff to assist you as necessary, but rather scattered little desks. Seemingly a lack of order in the organisation of the library resources.
But…
Some lovely spaces to sit and work on your device of choice, including what looked like a couple of lovely little haven spaces enclosed little hubs with a central table and seating around it. Some comfortable chairs to relax and read, wi-fi access in all areas, some good old-fashioned tables and chairs for the traditionalists, like me.
I felt I could pretty much live with the chaotic layout with the quality of the facilities. I thought to myself, okay, I can live with this, this could be my new haven space to work, complete with good coffee right downstairs.
Oh how wrong can one be.
What do you think of when you think of a library, I wonder?
Perhaps I am getting old but I think of almost silent spaces, where other people’s concentration needs are respected, and if not enforced by fierce librarians. Rows of tall shelves well-ordered and labelled full of books. The click clack of shoes on the floor, and the absence of chatter and unnecessary noise.
Oh how times have changed. It seems the desire to be modern, aesthetically and architecturally novel seems to trump the concept of functionality of space for the users.
I went for another visit today. I took my eldest daughter with me, both armed with laptops and ready for some quiet solace. We started with a coffee together in the downstairs cafe. Nearby was a group of women meeting for coffee, enjoying the company of friends, chatting and laughing together. Nothing wrong with that of course, except for the cavernous reverberation and amplification of those voices to the extent they were bouncing around my head with ferocity.
I briefly thought to myself. Well this is certainly not going to be a quiet space here in the cafe.
We enjoyed our drinks and made our way upstairs. I found a home in one of the aforementioned pods. Set myself up, popped on my noise cancelling headphones and 
fired up the laptop. My daughter found a place at a table and did the same.
It was now that I discovered that the true failing of this wonderfully aesthetically pleasing new building. The stairs that link the three levels run pretty much up the centre of the building, in an open channel. Creating in a sense a chute. A chute that seemed to draw every sound from the bottom of floor of the building and push it up to leak with seemingly amplified volume into the space of the library.
I sat dumfounded and amazed that sitting in this pod, with my noise cancelling headphones on and some quietly soothing music playing that the voices of those happily socializing women were as clear to me, or perhaps clearer than they had been when I had sat drinking a coffee two tables from them.
A persisted, hoping it would quiet, but alas, the next phase of the morning was the toddler story time. This occurred on the other side of the floor to where I was situated. And again the noise of this reverberated around the room making it near impossible to concentrate on the work I was attempting to do.
Clearly no autistic people were consulted or considered in the design of this great new building. Clearly the idea of this modern space and the look of it are far more important to those running the project than if the building is fit for the purpose it is to fulfil.
I don’t consider myself a stick-in-the-mud and don’t think that the totally silent library is necessarily a practical thing in the modern tech world we live in, but, this situation is quite ridiculous.
I consider my auditory sensory issues to be fairly mild in comparison to many other 
autistics, yet it was unbearable to me. I can’t imagine the overloading experience it would be to some of my friends. Likely meltdown or shutdown inducing.
I share this story of my day, to ask, how do we manage to ensure that neurodiversity and sensory sensitivity could be considered in the design phase of projects like these. There are so many places where we the sensory assault is very difficult to manage. Isn’t it perhaps time that autistics and sensory sensitive people were considered.
What is the way forward here. How do we stop this from continuing to happen and more and more places that were something of a haven for autistic and sensory sensitive people are wiped off the face of the earth.
I would contend too that a sensory haven for autistics is also going to be a pleasant space for non-autistic people to take time out, take a break from hustle and bustle of shopping and errands, to sit and do some work or reading too.
I look forward to hearing your points of view on this.
I am also a library traditionalist. I love the way the “shhhh” carries through the stacks like a scream. Libraries are where lovers of peace and quiet go to worship. I also agree that it is time to start making Autistics a part of large project planning committees… along with those in wheel chairs. I would like to see more environmental architects too. France has new rules about green space or solar panels on all building tops. These are great ideas that will make a better world for future generations. We used to have separate rooms in the US for people who wanted to smoke. They got rid of those in the last 20 years. The difference? I suppose that smokers had the big tobacco lobbies to fight for them. *sigh* One more reason for community unity and an end to the cure narrative.
Tricia I agree with you, however, I don’t think it will ever happen as it isn’t in the interests of the majority who expect, in fact demand, maximum freedoms even at the expense of others right to a safe and fulfilling life.
Those who fall through the
“cracks’ are invisible/ unimportant in the greater scheme and have no voice.
Those who express their voice seem to be preaching to the converted or give up in despair
AND there are those who are too intimidated to speak out and are thus silenced even when they are those discriminated against.
Music continually being played at a rehabilitation gym in a hospital /allied health setting… many patients/stakeholders etc need full concentration in order to coordinate mind and body this can be very wearing when having to mentally combat the intrusion of unsolicited music/noise in order to achieve physical balance( literally balance for some).
Healthy , able staff seem to need this constant sound input/abuse for their entertainment… that comes first… just as is witnessed in shopping malls, doctors surgeries, eateries etc and yes now in Libraries.
Another excuse given by a member of staff in rehab gym was ” so that attendees conversations between each other could retain privacy”… i ask… what is the purpose of the rehab gym?
To the able who use it as a cheaper gym to that down the road and spend their time in groups chatting through their exercises I’d ask them if it is possible to wait until after and go for a chat over coffee. But no .
After having to bring this to mind of senior staff on several occasions the rights of those in need are ignored… result… i’ve abandoned going there… there is no other place to go… but that is it… one tires of having to stand up for basic rights and noticing the attitudinal response of the staff towards one as a ” nuisance”.
Libraries are no longer a place where one can read in relative silence… forget going to one to study…. just one more place that sensory sensitive people experience what I call The Great Removal by the tyranny of the majority.