Reimagining Harold Washington Library Center with Chicago’s Civic Consulting Alliance

We recently convened a dynamic group of civic leaders across Chicago in a half-day workshop to envision the future needs and goals of the Harold Washington Library Center. The energizing event — the second part of a two-part initiative — generated bold ideas for how the historic library can evolve to meet the community’s needs.

Located in a conference room in the Harold Washington Library Center (HWLC), workshop participants engaged collectively and in small group activities designed to align the library’s priorities and discuss how its resources can be used to address endemic issues in the City of Chicago. Watch the video for a recap of the visioning session.

“When I think about all the people who come into the Loop every day — whether they are workers, tourists or students — the idea of this library being a place that can actually support all of those people is incredibly inspiring,” says Chris Lambert, a lead consultant on the project with Blue Cottage of CannonDesign. "The opportunity to work with Harold Washington Library Center created a lot of interest among our team. And, as a Chicago resident myself, I was genuinely excited to be able to bring this project to the rest of our team.”

The project

The Harold Washington Library Center has stood as an iconic landmark in the Chicago Loop since it opened in 1991. While it has changed dramatically to respond to public needs over the years, a deliberate assessment and reimagination of the central library will manifest opportunities to prepare it for the future. Through Open Hand Studio’s longstanding partnership with Civic Consulting Alliance, our team engaged on a brief project to help Chicago Public Library (CPL) leaders and HWLC explore paths to further adapt the building’s footprint to align with the library’s evolved role in the city.

“I'm always thrilled when Open Hand Studio has the capacity to help because clients often don't know what they need, or they need many different things that you don't find in one source,” says Rohan Mascarenhas, principal at Civic Consulting Alliance. “Working with Open Hand Studio, you get everyone from the architects to the data analysis, all in one package, to make a compelling set of recommendations.”

HWLC occupies an important public space in Chicago — with external forces shaping the role that the library plays today:

• Chicagoland residents and visitors from near and far rely on HWLC to be a cultural destination, facilitating community engagement, cultural programming and social impact.
• Unhoused people — both individuals and families — increasingly rely on public institutions like HWLC for shelter, warming and cooling, and access to social services, technology and other resources.
• The influx of tens of thousands of migrants to Chicago has only increased the importance of HWLC as it briefly served as a temporary shelter and continues to act as a safe place to receive social services.
• Public safety and transportation issues impact access to the library.
  

As a first step to understanding the impact of these changes and how the library might adapt its spaces and experiences, our team designed a two-part initiative: a diagnostic assessment to understand the current ways the HWLC is used, including both the intended and adapted uses of space, perspectives from dozens of stakeholders and quantitative analysis of HWLC compared to peer libraries; and a workshop with key stakeholders from CPL, City agencies, non-profit partners, cultural institutions and organizations with national perspective. 

The diagnostic included data analysis, stakeholder interviews and focus groups with our experts from Blue Cottage of CannonDesign and our library planning team. The visioning session was a half-day interactive workshop that amplified the expertise and perspectives of diverse stakeholders who are deeply committed to the library’s mission.

“We confirmed in focus groups, conversations during the workshop and our data review that public libraries are great at engaging certain ages of populations,” says Frances Fox. “But it was interesting to hear workshop participants discuss ideas for how the library’s physical space can engage over the evolution of a person's life. How do you go from being a small child to a teen and into adulthood and continue to engage with the library in meaningful ways? One of the ideas was to create new anchors of activity on each floor so that there are destinations and welcoming first impressions that support the communities that use the library.”

This project will not only deliver a finalized vision statement and recommendations on process execution but also collect insight that can help public library leaders across the country visualize new opportunities for their local communities.