PORTLAND, OR (2025) “The End of Libraries”

Simplicity, beauty, elegance . . . that's not what the architects were going for.

Calgary Central Public Library

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The Midland Public Library [not its real name] has been my go-to workplace for the last several years. There’s a lot of study space. Nice librarians. Comfortable chairs. There are windows to look out at the evergreen trees outside.

Midland Library is in an outer suburb, about ten miles outside of Portland, where I live. There are some homeless people in the tiny town of Midland, but much less than Portland.

For a while, the local homeless didn’t seem to know about the Midland Library. You rarely encountered them there. This was unlike the libraries in downtown Portland, which had essentially become homeless shelters and holding stations for the mentally ill.

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That’s how I originally discovered the Midland Library. I was looking for libraries where I could work, that didn’t have significant homeless populations.

My search took me further and further into the outer suburbs until I eventually discovered Midland. It was like an oasis. Quiet, spacious, clean. Fully functional. It was like I’d gone back in time.

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The Midland public library is a 20-25 minute drive from my house. That’s pretty far by Portland standards. At first I thought: “I’ll just drive out there every once in a while, as a treat to myself, when I feel like writing in a calm, peaceful environment.”

But I liked it so much I made the trip several times a week. Eventually it became like going to the office. I became a commuter.

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