A giant sucking whirlwind of stupid descends on Copley Square
Today's report in the Globe on the BPL's attempt to get the T's Copley station renamed BPL proves that both sides in an argument can be wrong.
First, Bernie Margolis of the BPL and state Rep. Marty Waltz insult our intelligence by saying things like "We want people to know where we are." Please. Are you getting lots of complaints from people who can't find the main library branch in Copley Square because it's not on subway maps? It's like that old "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" riddle: "Where's the Copley main branch of the BPL?"
And besides, "Airport" is a good name for the airport stop because there's nothing else there. As Third Decade puts it:
The Boston Public Library officials are greedy. There is absolutely no need for the MBTA to go out of its way to rename Copley Station. The station is not their own personal stop and the Library has no compelling reason for a name change...other than being greedy. After all, Copley Square as a whole is the prominent destination for the station. The Old South Church, Trinity Church, Copley Place, and the Hancock Tower are as important to the fabric of the area as the Library. So, MBTA, I'm actually behind you on this one. ...
Ah, but what of the MBTA and its mouthpiece, Joe Pesaturo? Obviously, like Third Decade, I actually support them for a change. But Pesaturo does his side no good when he babbles against renaming the station in part because of the importance of map consistency. Yeah, right. That must be why every single Orange Line car has maps showing how you can get off at Forest Hills and take a Green Line trolley up to Centre Street in JP more than a decade after the T "temporarily" ended that service.
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Besides the above-mentioned institutions ....
I bet the owners and managers of the Copley Plaza Hotel would not appreciate having their subway station renamed.
A good idea.... Boston Public Library T station.
The Boston Public Library T stop is a good idea because tourism is an important part of the local economy.
And tourists go to libraries more than they shop?
Astonishingly, Mr. Saklad fails to make a point about the connection between (increasing?) tourism and the benefit of changing the name of the T stop from Copley (known for its many shopping options, not to mention Trinity Church and the Hancock building) to Boston Public Library. As beautiful as the BPL may be, I hardly think most tourists come to Copley Square to borrow books. The advantage (if there is one) of naming the stop for the library would be of primary benefit to locals from outlying parts of the city and/or the suburbs -- and, of course, to the library itself.
Kinda by definition
Tourists don't have BPL cards. So yeah, it's pretty silly to suggest that putting BPL in the station name would benefit tourism in any way.
There's a lot you can do there without a card
The architecture of the building is amazing. You can also look at historical stuff (and, um, the books) without checking anything out. Books about sightseeing in Boston often do mention the place.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
The BPL is great, but leave the subway stop alone
Sure, tourists go to the BPL, and we should encourage more of them to do so.
But tourists also shop at Copley Place, stay at the Copley Plaza or Copley Square or Westin Copley or Marriott Copley hotels, and go to outdoor WBOS concerts at Copley Square. On balance, even if you're just talking about tourists, the name should stay as it is.
Names
Gosh, how in the world do tourists navigate New York City, where all the stops have names like 42nd Street?
My parents, my aunt, and my
My parents, my aunt, and my sister were all REALLY ENTHUSIASTIC about seeing the library as tourists.
I come by my geekhood honestly.
Renaming rooms, galleries around the floors in the BPL buildings
Boston Public Library board chairman Jeff Rudman
http://bpl.org/general/trustees/trustees.htm
should advocate for improving the navigability of the BPL buildings
floors, department, collections. Entering the buildings there need to
be building directories indicating
a) floor by floor,
b) room by room,
the locations of c) departments,
the names of the people who are the
d) curatorial heads of the departments and
e) the locations of collections.
The library graphics at
http://bpl.org/guides/plan.htm
need a redo by a graphics experts like Edward Tufte
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_ei
see also
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_visex
Locations inside the Boston Public Library buildings need to be
renamed and graphics around the floors of the BPL buildings need to be
designed so people can move about more easily. A lot of the battle at
BPL is how to figure out where are the parts of the collections that
interest you and where are the BPL people who are the curatorial heads
of departments and where are the experienced subject specialists of
the BPL who have their own expertise with their favorite parts of the
collections. Often BPL people are temporarily reassigned to other
departments during staffing shortages or holidays.
Two listings are needed on the Boston Public Library
website... Listings of BPL's experienced subject specialists and their
expertise with their favorite parts of the collections.
Listings floor by floor, room by room where the departments, the
collections and the names curatorial heads of departments. Boston
Public Library curatorial department heads should be given more credit
for their good works and more recognition individually as
curators. For example at the Museum of Fine Arts the MFA curators get
recognition individually there and in the media.
What can be done about the Boston Public Library bureaucracy?...
For more details next time you contact the lib ask for The Real Sheet
newsletter of the BPLPSA Boston Public Library Staff Association
http://bplpsa.org/
see also
http://www.local1930.org
These organizations have interesting critical analyses of the kinds of
institutional bureaucratic practices. We have theater critics, we have
restaurant critics, we have motion picture critics, we have art
critics. We need more critical reviews of our libraries and more
critical reviews of the curatorial departments of our libraries.
Ah, map consistency. Of course!
That would explain why the large wall sized maps at Orient Heights station still use the old names on the Orange and Red lines, and the Red Line northbound ends at Harvard......
What next?
What next? Bank of America T-stop instead of Downtown Crossing? Well, how are people going to get to the bank if the T-stop isn't named after it? Please. The public is more intelligent than that. Everyone who has a library card for the Copley Square Boston Public Library knows exactly where it is.
Didn't the T actually try that a few years ago?
I seem to recall they sold the naming rights to one station to Citizens Bank.
State-Citizens Bank Plaza station
Yeah, it was State Street station. Only lasted a year or two.
Copley library
Actually, many people get their library cards at a branch library and don't realize that the main branch is also for them to use. I've talked with several neighbors and clients who were under the impression that it's an academic library that they wouldn't have any right to use.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Deduction
One could argue that the first clue toward recognizing that the BPL is not an academic library, and instead a public one, is that it is called the "Boston Public Library."
Anyway, what does this have to do with the name of the T stop? They aren't considering calling it "Copley / Boston Public Library Which Is Available To Cardholders From Other Branches And Is Not An Academic Library Station".
I'm surprised that a name
I'm surprised that a name change can be mandated by legislation.
MYXYLPLYK Station?
What gets me about this that they are proposing to make the name longer and less comprehensible.
If they were saying let's rename Copley Station simply "Library," then I'd say, hmm, not a bad thing, and move on. Simple: Airport. Aquarium. Symphony. Library. Okay.
But it's not that simple.
WTF? How about we name it Copley Square / Boston Public Library / Dartmouth Street / Trinity Church Station? Or abbreviate that to CSBPLDSTC Station, for brevity's sake.
You know, if a person doesn't know where the main branch of the BPL is already, he probably doesn't know what the acronym BPL stands for. The name Copley/BPL Station wouldn't help a damned soul find the Library.
Making Copley Station into the T equivalent of the TD Banknorth Garden Fleet Center is just plain idiotic. Don't these people have anything better to do?
I seem to recall that one of
I seem to recall that one of the objections the T raised earlier was the difficulty of changing the recorded announcements and all the maps.
I do not remember hearing this same objection to removing the ICA from the stop formerly known as Hynes Convention Center/ICA.
Now the recording says "Hynes Convention Center" with a lift at the end and it always leaves me waiting for some kind of resolution that never comes.
Copley Library
Perhaps the BPL should go another route and rename that branch the Copley Library. It would be a lot easier changing the library's website and letterhead than going through the motions of gaining Lesgislative approval and changing all the signs around the system. Plus, the station's name would become accurate and it would match what most native Bostonians call that building anyway.
Forgive my ignorance, but....
How are the BPL leaders being "greedy" by proposing this? Is the BPL now a for-profit venture? If they re-name the station, and 15% more people borrow books for free, do the leaders get a bonus (stock options?) or something?
I can see calling the move self-centered, but not greedy.
Sounds like a local problem to me ...
Trust me, as tourists we could give a rat's rear what you name your silly train stations. If you rename the staion "Station K" and we can see on a map that it's near the Library, Shopping, or whatever then we'll find it. All this bantering back and forth is mere local squabbling to us. Make a decision and be done with it.