A New Century of Libraries

The science fiction website io9 recently ran a post declaring that new libraries increasingly resemble “alien spaceships”. It’s fascinating to see how many wonderful new libraries have opened since the turn of the century, and that the library seems a focus for daring, experimental architecture.

What better place to start than the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (2010), an attempt to recapture something of the most famous library of all.

Biblioteca Parque España, Medellín, Colombia (2007)

Biblioteca José Vasconcelos, Mexico City, Mexico (2006)

Liyuan Library, Beijing, China (2011)

Vennesla Library and Culture House, Vennesla, Norway (2011)

Umimirai Library, Kanazawa, Japan (2011)

Stuttgart City Library, Stuttgart, Germany (2011)

Aberdeen University Library, Aberdeen, Scotland (2012)

David Crotty

@davidacrotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.