Let’s be real.
It is not a library.
It’s a shopping mall, movie theaters, coffee shops, with a library.
They destroyed a beautiful tree’d green space in an area where there are few green spaces.
And built some more buildings monstrosities.
Taoyuan city needs some better guidance.
But they’re really good at slinging bullshit. So they don’t need any guidance in that.
Humans are great at appreciating nature and at the same time f’ing it over for a profit.
I wholeheartedly agree. When I moved to downtown Taoyuan in 2008, the 藝文 grassy area was huge. It was a spacious place for kids to play, for people to walk their dogs, and for simply sitting under the trees and relaxing. It saddens me to see how the green area has been progressively replaced with buildings and is now a fraction of its former size.
It’s getting harder to find large natural spaces. It seems like people (government? developers? businesses?) aren’t happy until amorphous, natural areas are repurposed into what I call structured tourist attractions.
I understand “progress”, but jeez. And then they have the nerve to refer to the area with terms like “green” and “tree of life”? Give me a break.
Another reason I stay away from up north.
If that’s a “green building” we are all fucked. Just because you put some potted plants in a building doesn’t make it green.
And also, the article does a great job of explaining where the bookstore will be, the cinema, the food and coffee shops, digital reading, virtual reality nonsense, etc. At no fucking point does it say where the actual library will be, you know, where you can browse books, read, and check one out. Do they know what a library is?
It does say it will be Taiwan’s largest with a million books available, so I guess it will be apparent?
Yes, because reckless construction of stupid things at the expense of the tax payer is unique to northern Taiwan and not a global phenomenon
whos in taoyuan? lets do a meetup at friday’s
The Hop Inn is way better.
Yeah it’s within walking distance of the beautiful green new Library 
I like the Fat Yak so get on u-bike and follow the river for 10 minutes.
Sounds like weight goal.
I don’t know what you are trying to say to me.
I’m pointing out that reckless spending of tax payer money is not unique to northern Taiwan. It happens everywhere on earth. You’re not avoiding it by staying in Taiwan’s south.
“Another reason I stay away from up north.”
I prefer nature over city. Go vote them out.
Sure it is. They have books and you can check them out. There’s also a bookstore, which I think is brilliant.
What better place to sell books than a place where you borrow them? Competition is good.
I was there three years ago and the only green was the fence. 
There were trees and grass in a park at one time.
Now a building and concrete but they’ve managed to squeeze in some trees and grass.
Well in 2006 it was all grass around here. Things change. I think the inside was quite nice given that it is facing the shittiest corner for blocks. 
Also I doubt there are a million books in there.
I recently went to that exact library just to check things out, it had 7 levels of books and emptiness, along with a plethora of unused computers.
Speaking of computers, their IT (or Taoyuan public libraries as a whole) are lax in every aspect; the public-access computers run SQL clients with hard-coded passwords that link to exposed SQL servers. You can see exposed data such as librarian password hashes, user rental and disciplinary histories, and other vulnerable services from anywhere in the world; It gets worse when you realize that these issues have been flagged in the past.
That’s Taiwan’s IT security!
My main gripe is the chairs. Very uncomfortable.
