Dayton, Ohio, isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of a progressive U.S. city with Danish-inspired civic planning. Yet this post-industrial Midwestern city of 140,000 — the seat of a county that voted definitively for President Trump in the 2016 election — defies expectations. It has a diverse population, farm-to-table bistros, a bike-share program, electrified public transit, an independent theater community, and forward-thinking architecture, design, and cultural institutions.

But the most progressive thing about Dayton — the thing that puts its coastal, blue-state brethren to shame — is its public library system, one of the most dynamic in the country.

In an era of widespread internet access, cheap digital books and federal disinvestment, cities across America are attempting to reinvent their aging library systems. Dayton is at the forefront of this movement. The Dayton Metro Library is leading the city’s cultural transformation, putting $1 million dollars into local art, and using the largest bond issue in state history to radically change the form and function of its library spaces. It is customizing branches for the specific communities they serve, implementing new architecture that can adapt to future technologies, and designing programming that integrates the library into the daily routines of city life.

In short, the city is reshaping the place of the public library in society, making an important “third place” where citizens go when not at work or at home. While libraries across the country risk going the way of the card catalogue, Dayton’s is becoming a place for everything from family reunions to wedding receptions; theater to video production; virtual reality to cooking; and of course, reading, writing, and research.

A child warms up in the Story Corner in the Main Downtown branch.

Participatory Design

Dayton’s reimagined library system got off to an inauspicious start. After years of meticulous study, discussion, and analysis, library officials were finally ready to unveil plans for a revamped system in September 2008. Weeks later, the global economy collapsed, and by November the plan had been shelved.

For a number of years prior, the library had suffered from a lack of state funding, says Tim Kambitsch, executive director of Dayton Metro Library. Facilities were deteriorating. “When we decided to go for a bond issue in 2007, we had a strategic plan we’d developed that said what we wanted to improve, [and] we had a broad scope of things we wanted to achieve.” None of their facilities, he says, did what they wanted.

Despite the 2008 crash and lack of funding, Kambitsch says Ohio’s overall attitude towards libraries defies economic and nationwide trends. “I think one of the special characteristics in Ohio is we’ve had strong public libraries. There is a strong degree of support for libraries. It’s amazing to see that amount of support.” In 2009, in the depths of the Great Recession, the library asked Dayton voters for an increase in their levy, and an incredible 73 percent of them responded by approving the request.

In 2011, at a board member’s encouragement, the 2008 plans were dusted off, and officials refreshed the data and restarted public meetings and polling to learn what each community’s aspirations were for their library branches. “We found an incredible amount of support for us to do what we had aspired to do for our community,” says Kambitsch.

The county treasurer at the time encouraged the library to “go for the whole enchilada,” says Kambitsch, and embrace an expansive vision that would be paid for with a bond issue, requiring voter approval. “One of the things that became obvious to us was the fact that we were making this big ask, that people recognized this was going to be something special,” says Kambitsch. “At the same time, it engaged the conversation … of what the contribution to the community could be. It built a greater aspiration from the community — what did they want?” Even with the big ask — $187 million and the largest bond issue in state history — Kambitsch says the plan still enjoyed overwhelming support.

The bond issue passed in 2012, and shortly thereafter an anonymous donor bequeathed one million dollars to the library, which officials decided to spend on art for the new branches the bond issue would pay for.

The communities moved forward, collaborating as a part of a holistic process that enabled them to be a part of the planning before any architectural blueprints were drawn up. Architects and library administrators listened to residents at heavily attended forums to learn what was special about each community and what their priorities were for the library branches serving them.

The music studio in the Northwest branch is the direct result of such listening. The community was proud of being the center of the genesis of funk music — Troutman Studios were located just a few blocks away, and the Ohio Players practiced in a garage nearby — and they wanted to celebrate that history, says Kambitsch. “So we created a recording studio in that branch. That was a direct reflection of what the neighbors told us was important to them in that neighborhood.”

To create such individualized branches, the Dayton Metro Library turned to Group 4, a San Francisco-based architecture firm that specializes in library design. Over the course of the renovations, four other local architecture firms joined in collaboration on various branches.

David Schnee, a principal at Group 4, says they modeled concepts for the Dayton Metro Library system on Dokk1, a Danish library that calls itself a “citizens’ house” and functions as a “center for knowledge and culture.” DOKK1 includes a playground, a café, a “creative room” for young children, the city archives, a nursing room (though nursing is permitted throughout the facility), a game room for board games, citizen support services, and media in multiple languages — in addition to library standbys like a quarter of a million books.

Dayton’s system is now “one of the first American interpretations of the concept of having the library be an active community center,” says Schnee. From the beginning, he says they wanted to be sure their plans were “reflecting and celebrating the communities and values in which the libraries are located.” There were “some common aspects in branding,” but the “opportunity to have it fit and tailor to location, demographics, needs, and values” was a huge part of the process. That process enables the library to be firmly anchored in the fabric of community life while still moving decidedly into the future.

Branches offer meeting rooms as well as collaborative spaces with tables, TVs and white boards — some areas look more like a co-working space than a traditional public library. There is a laptop vending area where you can check out a laptop and take it to a cushy chair or sofa next to a gas fireplace or picture window to work. Audio and video equipment can be accessed at every branch, and some branches have editing suites and green screen rooms. Two libraries have complete recording studios — all in line with the idea that libraries are a place to create content, not just consume it. Each space inspires dignity, and library officials work hard to keep the libraries clean and welcoming.