IN DEPTH
Turning over new leaves: Can outdoor spaces help libraries to grow?
Kirsten MacQuarrie is currently working towards CILIP Certifi cation and as part of her portfolio she discovered a world outside the library’s walls. Here she looks at how garden spaces can add an extra dimension to the way we use libraries and their services.
“IF you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need,” observed Cicero in a letter dating from 46 B.C. In fact, some transla- tions suggest an even more emphatic quotation: “If you have a garden in your library, everything will be com- plete!” 1
The inspiration for this piece of evidence grew from my recent visit to the Sir Alex Ferguson Library (previously known as the Saltire Centre), which houses the library of Glasgow Caledonian University. On a tour of the library and its facilities, I was intrigued to discover a designated outside space: the Rooftop Garden, which is avail- able to all library users between 1 April and 31 October). At a time when many libraries are under greater pressure than ever “to do more with less”,2
I was curious about how
the Sir Alex Ferguson Library has made use of what could easily be dismissed as non-functional space, and how readily its users (the library off ers free membership to students, staff and community members) have embraced the existence of a garden “inside” their library.
So far, the public library that I work in (located in a busy residential setting) has not made deliberate use of its small outdoor space, yet the Sir Alex Ferguson Library (situated in Glasgow’s city centre) encouraged me to refl ect on how even highly urbanised libraries can be creative about
28 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Kirsten MacQuarrie (
kirsten.macquarrie@
library.s-lanark.org.uk) is a library assistant and writer in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Her debut poetry collection, Eve Thinks, is available via the Borrowbox app and her website
www.glasgowgallerina.com.
including nature and greenery. I would like to use this piece of evidence to contextualise the library’s Rooftop Garden within discus- sion of other libraries that feature outdoor spaces, to refl ect on what impact a garden can have on libraries and their users, and to identify realistic starting points to support institutions like my own that have not yet explored the potential of their outdoor areas.
The Sir Alex Ferguson Library’s Rooftop Garden
Described by Glasgow Caledonian Univer- sity (CGU) as an “outdoor learning space”,3 the Rooftop Garden is located on the build-
January-February 2020
Garden Library
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