Having spent some time in the national library in Almaty, I’m glad Astana is getting one as well. Prime Minister Masimov and the mayor of Astana chose the winning design, which I have to say looks pretty neat. The best part, of course, is the rendered image which puts Nazarbaev walking around the library between the tourists and school tours. I understand not every library is for the same purpose, but these pictures make me wonder what purpose this library will serve. It doesn’t appear to be either of the standard library types I know in the states. Those being one, University towers that house academic collections of books in never-ending stacks, or two, the town library full of best-sellers and media collections. This one seems to be more about architecture, appearance, and showing off. Then again, the national library in Almaty isn’t that large, either. I suppose the larger issue is, now that the design is picked, when will they concern themselves with filling the place with books?
The Nursultan Nazarbaev National Library
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Looks like the bulk of the books will be underground. But my question, which I’m sure many other Central Asianists have, is will this be a typical totalitarian post-Soviet library where you can’t scan, photograph or photocopy anything because there is an evil little librarian with a Napoleon complex who thinks that the pdf you want to make of 1920s archival notes will be sold in America for millions of dollars and make you famous?
Beyond the sarcasm, I wonder if much of the archives (i.e., Russian Turkestan administration) will be transferred here.
My main beef is how easily they play to Kazakh identity, and do it poorly. “Continuing his comments, Thomas Christoffersen said: “The envelope of The National Library transcends the traditional architectural categories such as wall and roof. Like a yurt the wall becomes the roof, which becomes floor, which becomes the wall again”" What? Having slept in and built yurts, I don’t recall the roof EVER ‘becoming’ the floor, or vice versa. The design is very cool and futuristic, but saying it stems from yurts and Kazakh nationality is pretty blatantly patronizing.
But still – I hope the stacks are, if not open to the public, at least equipped with copiers and whatnot.
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