Libraries

Grain’s extensive work in the field of libraries has ranged from the general – developing big-picture visions for institutions, soliciting actionable feedback from the community – to the specific, for instance, assisting individual branches to engage distinct subsets of their users. Often our work entails collaborating with architects to ensure that new branches benefit from a truly participatory design process; our guiding goal is always to ensure that libraries meet the needs of everyone in their communities.

Grain’s Sapna Advani has long been passionate about libraries and their potential to inform, educate, and empower. Years ago, she was tapped to join UNION, an interdisciplinary group of designers charged with creating a strategic framework for the New York Public Library to thrive in the long term. Crucially, the team also developed tools and tactics to secure the funding to ensure the future they envisioned. This working group’s conclusions were published as “Librariness” (read more here [link to Librariness in project list]).

This experience led to new projects with three library systems in New York: Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. Our partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has been particularly rich.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Sunset Park
BPL is redeveloping the old Sunset Park Library, a very busy branch, to better meet neighborhood needs. Our engagement work with residents and stakeholders shone a light on its role as a community gathering space, social hub, and resource center; our recommendations helped shape the library’s new design and programming. 

Adams Street
The Adams Street Library is BPL’s 60th branch, and first new build since 1983. Serving communities segregated by both race and income, this branch is a site where people with different backgrounds can come together to take part in a living democratic culture. The engagement process reached more than 700 patrons, highlighting stakeholder needs around equity, health and identity. Our work had a special focus on teenagers – the toughest demographic to reach – to inform the development of a special programming space. Our work informed the identity, programming, and the final design of the library, which won several awards. 

Central Library
BPL’s flagship and most-visited location, this branch serves as the foundation for the entire system. Grain Collective supported BPL in engaging thousands of library patrons and staff as the library embarks on an ambitious renovation plan to meet the needs of a changing borough. Over 2100 comments and ideas and visions  were received and reviewed; this input helped shape the design of physical spaces, infrastructure, programs, and  operations. Deeper engagements were conducted with the adult learning community and teens, to help inform the design and programming of a new adult learning center and a new dedicated space for teens to create, discover, socialize, and learn.