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The Boston Public Library is all jazzed because it wants the Copley T station's name changed to "BPL Station" or somesuch.
Apparently, Mayor Menino and some local pols are behind the BPL on this, and are sponsoring legislation to have the name changed.
Pro-change parties cite Boston's quaint precedent of naming T stations for nearby landmarks, a la "Suffolk Downs," "Aquarium," and "Airport."
For the past five years, the T has rolling its eyes about the issue, claiming that it has bigger fish to fry - like making the T more handicap-accessible and less stabby.
Plus, says the T, it would cost a lot of money to change all of its signs and maps to reflect a major station name-change. Furthermore, the T says that conceding to the name change would "open a floodgate" of similar requests.
The Library Side's counter-argument is that T travel is easier when station names clearly describe their next-door neighbors. (Yeah - like "Wonderland.")
OK - If the T caves on this, we're TOTALLY going to petition for more name changes, such as:
Ruggles: No Snitchin' Centre
Downtown Crossing: Filene's Basement
Forest Hills: Crackhouse Crossing
St. Mary's: Contraceptive Corner
Any more suggestions, guys? Please share!
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Um, does Menino realize that the whole area is called "Copley Square" and not "Area next to the BPL"?
Harvard -> Ivytrash
Haymarket -> Mike's Pastry. Yep.
Seriously: Why bother renaming anything? What's it going to do? I can't see what would change, except the signs, which would cost money. Couldn't that go to something, I dunno. Useful? Relevant?
Not seriously: Alewife > Parking Lot
BU East, BU Central, BU West: HELL
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.
The Boston Public Library or Copley Library T stop is a good idea. Tourism is an important part of the local economy. T stops named in this manner improve the navigability of the transit system.
LOL - "Less stabby" - this is a really well written article.
- Derek.
Someone suggested: HAHAHA!
"How about Lechemere … it’s not even a STORE anymore, and there is a t-stop named after it."