Project for Public Spaces

Here is Mike's message about the Plaza Project. Please share with staff.

As has been shared, Houston Public Library will be working with Project for Public Spaces (PPS) to create a plan to make the Central Library Plaza a vibrant, exciting, and welcoming public space. Project for Public Services is a nonprofit planning and educational organization dedicated to creating vibrant public spaces that transform communities.

As a part of this process, Houston Public Library staff members are being invited to attend placemaking training sessions. These sessions will provide an introduction to principles of placemaking to create great civic gathering spaces and instructions on evaluating a place. Working together in teams, participants will use this knowledge to evaluate a specific site and brainstorm ideas for transforming their assigned area. I have attached the agenda for this training to this message.

There will be two training sessions held on Tuesday, May 8 in the Concourse Meeting Room at the Central Library. To ensure that as many staff as possible attend these important sessions, we will be delaying the opening of Central Library and HMRC until noon on this date. All staff who work at Central or JIB should plan to attend the morning session (9 am – noon); Central staff working the evening shift and at least one representative from each Neighborhood Library and other divisions not located at Central should attend the afternoon session (1 pm – 4 pm).

As a reminder, all staff are encouraged to participate in the Public Placemaking Workshop that will take place on Thursday, May 10 from 4 pm to 7:30 pm. If you have any questions about this exciting project, please feel free to contact Wendy Heger, Mike Van Campen, or Jennifer Schwartz. We are quite excited about this opportunity to work with staff throughout HPL to transform the Central Library Plaza.
Sincerely, Mike Van Campen

Thanks!

Laurie