The National Archives operates presidential libraries and museums dedicated to 15 U.S. presidents, but the Obama Presidential Center has some major differences.
“The presidency that is the main thrust of this particular story is also the story of the first digital president,” said Obama Presidential Center museum director Dr. Louise Bernard. Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden interviewed Bernard and Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown about the Center at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 25.
The National Archives and Records Administration is administering the Barack Obama Presidential Library, maintaining the estimated 95% of records that were born digital and working to digitize the rest. But the Obama Presidential Center, currently under construction in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, will be privately operated by the Obama Foundation.
Scheduled to open in late 2025, the Presidential Center will house a 5,000-square-foot branch of the Chicago Public Library. “I think there’s a really incredible moment that this branch represents,” Brown said. “Other leaders will see that this leader of our country is signaling the importance of libraries as part of that space.”
Bernard said that while the Center anticipates hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world each year, it will also serve as an asset for local residents, particularly those in the nearby Woodlawn, Washington Park, and South Shore neighborhoods. Its planned services and features make up “what we would like to think of as a civic commons,” Bernard said, including public programming spaces, an accessibly designed playground, a fruit and vegetable garden, a Great Lawn, and connections to Lake Michigan.
One unique planned element of the library branch is currently dubbed the President’s Reading Room, a noncirculating collection of reference books that address the themes and issues grappled with in the museum.
“What we’ve been talking about is not just how libraries activate the spaces within the branch, but also the spaces outside of our doors,” Brown said. These efforts are also intended to reflect President Obama’s story, which includes work as a community organizer, an author, and a film producer. Examples include hosting related speakers and movies on the lawn, providing a journaling station, and finding ways for the makerspace to “literally make space near the community,” he added.
Work with community groups has also revealed that they do not just want outside speakers brought in. “The resounding message has been to look to the neighborhood because there’s so much wealth and talent they feel like they can bring to us,” Brown said. As an example, the Obama Foundation has commissioned a sculpture for the facility from local artist Richard Hunt.
The concluding question-and-answer period revealed that no staff have yet been hired for the library branch—leading Hayden to quip, “You’re gonna have a lot of résumés.”
