Chicago

According to ala.org, "there are an estimated 122,101 libraries of all kinds in the United States today" (2010). Between 1883 and 1929, 1,689 Carnegie libraries were built in the United States with 920 more built across the world. Some of them since then have been closed and turned into people's homes, court houses, warehouses, or just plain are empty.

For about two years, I lived in Escanaba, Michigan. In 1906, a Carnegie library was built a couple streets from downtown. In 2009, I was in a musical and always had to drive past the old library, which has since been bought by someone from the public and abandon. The Escanaba Public Library used to dwell in the red sandstone edifice with four Greek-like pillars in the front. Then, the city's book collection got bigger, and the public decided to raise money to build a newer home for its book collection. Because the building was considered a historical monument, the city had trouble figuring out what to do with it. Later, I'll share with you what I am dying to turn it into. Anyway, this gentleman who owns a lumber or contracting company was suffering from a nagging wife. She wanted him to buy it to turn into their beautiful home. The gentleman finally gave in and in the early 90s, they purchased the building from the city for around $30,000--what a depressing steal. It breaks my heart to say this, but to this day, the building remains empty of its former glory and full of the couple's junk including a knight armor's set that sits in full view of one of the windows. When I walked in front of the building one night, I was terrified but convinced that the knight wanted someone to play with.

I want to free that knight. I want to free the memories the old Escanaba library once knew, but put an artistic twist to it. I want to bring the laughs of children, the sounds of pages being turned, the sounds of pianos being played, ukuleles being plucked, voices being rehearsed, and art being created. I want to turn the building into a fine and performing art center for people to channel emotion into creativity.

Today, I am in Chicago. I will be here for the next unknown number of days, months, or years. I would like to stay here for a long time. The reason I mentioned the old Carnegie libraries is because I think my goal to hit up and blog about many libraries is intertwined with Chicago and my desire to turn places into places of better use. Every library I go to, I would like to share a bit about its history and possibly, plans for the future. If it is on the line for closing, I will be in the line for taking it over and turning it into a place:

A place where people can come and learn more about music, art, theatre, and writing--the library.
A place with hundreds of instruments, paintbrushes, canvases, pencils, and paper--the books of the library.
A place where teachers come and go to donate an hour or five to people who wish to learn an instrument--the librarians.
A place that houses books and technology for research on the fine and performing arts--reference.

This will be a wonderful place.

Cheers!

The Library Blogger