

The Clute Science Fiction Library at Telluride is an intimate register of the constant evolution of the weaving of science fiction into the larger world of fiction. It will aid research into the past, present and future of the genre – how it shapes and is shaped by the world as it changes, and how it serves as an engine of prophecy and advocacy. The library will celebrate the continued and increasing importance to researchers and others of an archive of physical books, even in the era of digitization.
The library, which is fully cataloged, is located at 216 West Colorado Avenue in Telluride, Colorado. The works are in the process of being shelved–currently the Institute has completed the process through the letter “E.” Cover scans for more than 10,000 titles in the library can already be found in the Picture Gallery of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
This Clute Library Website, not unlike the Library itself, is under continuing construction.
The approximately 13,000 volumes which constitute the central Library have now traveled from London and Maine to Telluride. The basement space is being emptied and cleaned.
Very briefly, the rehabilitation of the basement (108 by 28 feet, and above ground for part of its length), where the collection is going to be housed, is also central to the works contemplated for the building as a whole. Much of the basic Library cost can piggyback those necessary works: the basement has to be cleared, dug down, and the floor concreted. Replacement columns must be installed to support the two upper floors. The interior stone masonry walls are from 1899, and are very beautiful.
Over and above the Library, the building itself will include conference/meeting spaces, a bookshop with open access to an adjacent restaurant with patio, and the offices of the Telluride Institute (which is not large but very active). The overall design is meant to dramatize the interaction of all these activities and functions, both rhetorically and in terms of actual synergies on the ground.
Architect’s Rendering
+ please contact Executive Director, Tucker Szymkowicz
tucker@tellurideinstitute.org
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