The Expansive Library

By Anna Van Sice

Walker Publishing Filed to Learning · Part of The Boundaryless Museum

Opening for The Art Line Cameron Downey Metro Transit bus shelter community partnership, 2024. Photo by Kameron Herndon. Courtesy Walker Art Center.

How can museums partner with non-art institutions to further greater civic impact? Anna Van Sice, Hennepin County Library adult services librarian, reflects on a recent collaboration among the Walker Art Center, North Regional Library, and local artist Cameron Patricia Downey to consider how the role of museums and libraries can extend past physical buildings and preconceived notions.

‘Can the library host more fun things like this, please?’

One cold morning last December, artist Cameron Patricia Downey and Walker Art Center staff wandered into my workplace at North Regional Library, a large, bustling building at the center of north Minneapolis. After eyeing the space and remarking on the massive, floor-to-ceiling windows that flood the sprawling children’s area with sunlight, they pitched me a program partnership involving, but not limited to, Downey’s artwork and Metro Transit, as well as photo shoots, costumes, music, and a community celebration.

Without knowing more details, I was thrilled to make the connection and excited at the prospect of such a large-scale, multi-pronged event. The local patron community is at the core of every decision I make as a librarian, and I’m always considering new ways to bring fun and pleasure into a space traditionally known for quiet information-seeking and, more recently, shelter and essential resources.

What came to fruition was a Downey-curated set of programs leading to the installation of collaborative art pieces on the north Minneapolis rapid D-Line bus shelters.

The first program was a March photoshoot at the library that allowed community members to dress up with props and pose in front of a background staged by the artist. This was followed by an all-afternoon, multi-location May event titled The Art Line that took place at various D-Line stops and celebrated the photoshoot photos with which Downey had artfully decorated the bus shelters.

The day perfectly represented Downey’s vision of having people she grew up with travel the D-Line together and admire artwork that featured them. While the youth-led Juxtaposition Arts offered music, food, free skateboard lessons, and giveaways on its Broadway Avenue patio, North Regional hosted a party complete with art activities, a Polaroid photoshoot curated by Downey, free bites from Rose’s Jamaican Kitchen, and music provided by DJ Kenna and the North High School DJ Club. Harm-reduction organization and library partner Neighborhood HealthSource was also on hand with safety resources like Narcan, test strips, and tent locks. Metro Transit had staff onsite to meet directly with community members about the proposed Blue Line Extension project.

Logistically, the events required significant preparation; various contracts, facility requests, and deadlines had to be addressed across several large organizations. What held all these moving pieces together was the community’s enthusiasm and care. Old neighbors and friends reunited while the young mingled with the elderly, and regular patrons welcomed newly arrived immigrants who hadn’t visited the library before. Rose’s food truck ran out of jerk chicken in two hours, and my Neighborhood HealthSource colleague reported having received the best turnout of their entire tabling experience at North Regional.

Amid the new spring sunshine and easy atmosphere of a Saturday afternoon, partygoers made art, shared Polaroids of each other in funny hats, and danced, while others made a point to tell Downey and me how much fun they were having. One conversation with a North Regional regular, most often in the library to receive assistance with email and printing, stands out. She approached me and asked:

“You know, you’re always helping me on the computer. I love the library for all the ways you’re able to help me in my life, but it’s still a place I sometimes associate with stress. Me and everyone else, we’re just trying to get our things done and move through our days. I love how relaxed and happy everyone is here today. Can the library host more fun things like this, please?”

What is the role of the public library?

This conversation provokes the question of the public library’s role in our society. The scope of our work is also woven into questions we ask ourselves in the profession: who are we to the community and what services must we provide?

Like many other long-standing institutions, the public library shapeshifts alongside the needs and desires of its patrons. Often referenced in the profession is the notion that we “meet people where they are,” which, taken at face value, is as vague as a task could be. That said, there’s really no more apt way to describe the goals of our work.

What I take from this phrase is our natural leaning toward expansiveness. In my view, good librarianship constantly pushes the boundaries of what it means to be a safe, accessible space that fosters community building, personal growth, and creativity. It means acknowledging and challenging oppressive systems, especially within our own organizations, and understanding that good work exists over the passage of time and across space. As one librarian put it during a virtual presentation in 2020, Circulating Optimism, for the nonprofit library cooperative organization OCLC: “The library is not just a place over there; the library is all around us. It is where you need it to be, wherever you are.”

Our work does transcend our brick-and-mortar buildings. Hennepin County Library has an entire outreach department dedicated to delivering services to those unable to travel, whether due to barriers like incarceration or homelessness, or circumstances relating to age or disability.

I recognize my position may greatly muddle a dated-yet-prevalent notion of libraries, which ranges anywhere from shushing librarians to dusty card catalogs to expressions of “Libraries? We still have those?”

To anyone who holds this image in their mind, I invite you to visit Hosmer Library, my current branch in south Minneapolis. There, a repurposed card catalog houses a lovingly managed seed library that’s already distributed approximately 8,000 seed packets in 2024. My thanks to our partners at Plant-Grow-Share for their help in maintaining this invaluable resource, which provides our community access to healthy, homegrown food.

The reality of public libraries today can’t be put simply because they aren’t simple places. No two branches are alike, just as no two communities are alike. For many, libraries are an essential daytime shelter: a temperature-controlled space with access to water, bathrooms, rest, and resources on topics like housing access, job readiness, and legal aid. Students and remote workers seek out quiet study rooms and reliable Wi-Fi, while children find safety and fun after school in a place with youth programming, snacks, and library staff ready to welcome them.

Meeting the above needs and populations at once can be challenging. Locally and system-wide, libraries grapple with questions about which programs and services might best support our patrons based on the trends we see in our branches each day, when matters like digital equity, opioid response, and services to new immigrant arrivals feel as urgent as ever.

On a branch level, it can be challenging to know what to prioritize when space and staffing is limited. That said, the range of services a branch could provide in a single day shouldn’t be underestimated. For example, it’s entirely possible that harm-reduction tabling, K–12 literacy programming, a book club, and a free Covid vaccine clinic might all occur at once.

Libraries play a unique role as a ‘third place’ in our society

Despite their unique differences, all libraries share a trait: the societal role as a third place. A term coined by urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg, “third place” describes social spaces that offer regular, voluntary, informal, and possibly anticipatory gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work. They are “foundations for democracy” and provide a setting for “grassroots politics, creating habits of public association, and offering psychological support to individuals and communities.”

While the public library has plenty in common with other third places, like cafés, bookstores, parks, and museums, it remains the last indoor place within our culture that not only allows but encourages free use of its spaces and resources. It also arguably promotes social equity more than many other institutions.

The need to create collective, socially equitable experiences feels more critical now than ever before. As our lives become increasingly individualized—whether through streaming platforms or carefully curated apps that let us engage with our interests through our phones—we risk our communities growing farther apart and indirectly discouraging public cultural activities. The potential the public library holds as a site of discourse, resource sharing, and collective joy is noteworthy.

Everyone deserves opportunities for enrichment and play

As the patron observed during The Art Line in May, it’s gratifying to see community members experiencing pleasure together at the library. For that event, the neighborhood was the central focus. Downey explicitly wanted to create a time for Northsiders to celebrate their community and learn about new opportunities.

Despite numerous organizations’ involvement, it felt seamless to promote library resources, public art, and public transit all at once, as each exists in service to the collective good. Coincidentally, The Art Line occurred during the Walker’s popular Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody exhibition. Guided by the notion that “art is for everybody,” Haring sought to create public, accessible pieces that touched on universal experiences and pressing societal issues. Fittingly, Downey shared the same creative ethos.

Weaving moments of pleasure into library life is an important aspect of my work. Just as each patron has a right to the library’s vital resources, I believe everyone deserves access to enrichment and play.

However, as our patron’s feedback highlighted, many associate the public library only with its traditional offerings. Helping to change this perception can take on a variety of forms. For example, Hosmer Library staff often provide passive activities, or opportunities to engage patrons outside of scheduled programs like Movie Night or Zine Club.

Walk into Hosmer and you’ll find  an adult puzzle station, coloring pages for all ages, trivia, a scavenger hunt, a poem of the month, and bookstore-style reviews tucked into novels on creatively themed displays. When patrons don’t have the bandwidth to attend programs, these are ways we can help them feel comfortable and welcomed in the space. It always pleases me when a patron excitedly guesses the trivia answer at the service desk, or when I see someone intent on finding edge pieces for the community puzzle.

Providing fun opportunities at the library also means gauging the space’s energy and learning about patrons’ hobbies. When the sun is out and the kids are, as we often say, “squirrely,” youth services staff will set up chalk paint or badminton outside on the lawn. I host a monthly Coffee and Conversation program that’s especially flexible and has taken many shapes through patron input, whether it's music requests, the variety of games, or topics of discussion.

Earlier this year, a regular attendee named Leigh asked if I would ever consider having karaoke during the program. As the daytime coordinator for a group of adults with disabilities, she’s always looking for new activities they can enjoy with others. Willing to give it a try, despite being unsure how many people would seek out karaoke on a weekday morning, I purchased a machine and gave it a spin during the following month’s program. I’ve now hosted Coffee and Karaoke several times and have seen some of the best attendance of my library career so far. Each time, the sense of connection in the room is palpable. Though attendees vary in age and background, and don’t always speak the same language, it’s clear through the dancing, cheers, and smiles that joy is being shared. People are willing to seek that out, I’ve found, even if it means singing at 9:30 a.m. on a Thursday.

Everyone plays a role in making the library a true community space

One of the most beautiful realities of the public library is that it can’t flourish on staff efforts alone. We thrive in trusted community partnerships that deliver amazing programs and provide key resources. We are buoyed by patrons who’ve made our space a second home and know all our names. It truly takes a village. It is the spirit of public libraries to know that we are all better—safer, more resourced, creative, and kind—when we extend our strengths and make a point of knowing one another.

When people ask why I chose to become a librarian, I often reply that public libraries exist both in the world I know and the one I wish to see—the latter being one of abundance, where art sparks wonder on every street corner and mind-opening education is available to all.

In a world of staggering resource disparities, public librarians understand that there’s no need for gatekeeping. In fact, there will always be imagination and pleasure to experience if we work together in creating chances for them.

A visit to the library

When a patron comes to the library, my greatest hope is that they’ll eventually find something that they see themselves in, whether in a book, a job opportunity, a new hobby, or perhaps their own face reflecting back at them in art at the library bus stop.

Just as art is for everybody, the library is, too. Whatever you’ve found at the library, may it be knowledge, joy, or community, I hope you leave with more imagination, more confidence, and more humanity than when you arrived.

And, if you’re ever wondering if you should come sing karaoke with me, the answer is always yes.▪︎

Learn more about Hennepin County Library and Cameron Patricia Downey’s project here.