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By Jorge Casuso
September 13 -- Technology
has come a long way since Greg Mullen
typed dialogue searches on a Texas
Instrument that spewed out the results
on waxy paper.
But Santa Monica’s City librarian
says the New Main Library Downtown
has become a thriving community gathering
place, despite dire predictions that
the Internet would spell the demise
of brick and mortar book repositories.
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“More people
than ever are coming to libraries,”
said Mullen, who has been a local
librarian since 1990. “Libraries
are another place in the community
that’s not work and it’s
not home, but where people come
together.
“People don’t come
to grab a book from the shelf
and leave, they stay,” Mullen
said. “We could have 100
people actively working on their
computers.”
Mullen served as the library system’s
lead in the design process that
resulted in a $57.7 million state-of-the
art library that has had more
than one million visits since
it opened its doors in January
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“It was a kind of a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for me,” said Mullen.
“Santa Monica has a strong tradition
of supporting libraries. There’s
a long history of support.”
Touted as a model of sustainable design,
the 104,000-square-foot structure
features multistory “walls of
glass,” movable walls and “operable
windows” that break down the
barriers between inside and out.
The structure allows patrons to wander
in and out of the garden courtyard
and enjoy a cup of coffee, while they
browse the latest bestseller.
“It’s the ambience of
the space, the light,” said
Mullen. “We have different types
of seating, study rooms. We wanted
to have different types of spaces.”
Santa Monica’s new library also
boasts one of the first online reference
services, Mullen said. “We think
of our online services as another
branch.”
But while the Internet provides a
wealth of information with the click
of a mouse, there is still no substitute
for a library when it comes to more
detailed searches.
“The more complicated and sophisticated
the question, the more you need help,”
Mullen said. “Technology expands
the awareness of information you can
provide in a library.”
While Santa Monica’s library
system remains at the leading edge
of technology, it also boasts collections
that are tailored to the browsers’
needs, Mullen said. Also attracting
visitors are programs that have been
attended by some 64,000 people.
The new library is drawing record
numbers of visitors, with more than
1.3 million visits since it opened,
it has successfully grappled with
a homeless problem that was the source
of complaints at the old facility.
According to library rules, patrons
cannot sleep in the library, bring
in food, obstruct aisles with personal
belongings or disrupt the library
with noisy or disorderly conduct.
If their hygiene is offensive –
that is, if they smell bad or will
get the furniture dirty – they
can be asked to leave, Mullen said.
“The library is for everyone,”
he said. “The homeless was a
concern from the beginning. We really
do have some good rules about the
type of behavior allowed.”
The rules, crafted with the City Attorneys
Office and based on legal precedent
from a New Jersey case, boil down
to one key question: “Is what
you’re doing interfering with
other people’s access to the
library?” Mullen said.
“People that appeared to be
homeless used to be a common complaint,”
he said. “Now it’s a rarity.”
The son of a business owner, Mullen
was drawn early on to libraries, checking
out books, records and old 8-millimeter
movies when he was in elementary school.
“It was always in my mind that
(being a librarian) was a possibility,”
said Mullen, who got a Master’s
Degree from USC in 1978. “I
liked retail work. I liked the interaction.”
Keeping the Main Library Downtown
– instead of relocating it to
the Civic Center – was a good
call, Mullen said.
“We’re at the center of
things,” he said. “This
is a destination. We benefit from
Downtown, but people also visit, head
out and cruise around the Downtown.
“It’s a very positive
environment,” Mullen said of
the new facility. “People come,
and they want to be here.”
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