Hilltop Branch - Columbus Metropolitan Library

“In an age of greed and selfishness, the public library stands as an enduring monument to the values of cooperation and sharing. In an age where global corporations stride the earth, the public library remains firmly rooted in the local community.”

Those words come from The Public Library: A Photographic Essay by Robert Dawson—a book I’ve been spending time with over the past four weeks ever since I began my project to visit every public library in the greater Columbus metropolitan area (some 40 in all). This project has already taken me into neighborhoods I rarely if ever visit or even pass through. So I’ve also spent some time driving and/or walking around in the various local communities.

Yesterday I headed for the Hilltop neighborhood but got waylaid by an urge to stop for lunch at Tommy’s Diner on W. Broad St.  I’d heard a lot of good things about this classic, old school diner that has been a fixture in the Franklinton neighborhood for nearly 30 years. Their signature “Franklinton burger” with a side of home fries (both yummy!) was the perfect lead in to an afternoon at a library.

I proceeded through Franklinton to the Hilltop neighborhood. Both are low-income areas with modest homes and many closed businesses. I found it striking on a map that only 2 of the 23 Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) locations are on the west side of the city of Columbus—the Franklinton and Hilltop branches.  The Hilltop Branch seemed rather modest looking and not especially inviting as I approached it on S. Hague Ave. (I have since learned that the CML Board of Trustees recently authorized a significant renovation and expansion of the Hilltop Branch.)

The entrance opens into an expansive, bright and welcoming space. There’s a large children’s area to the left, various media to the right, a great many computers farther on to the right, and the stacks in the distance on the left.

A number of large stained glass panels are on display along the way to the stacks. I asked where these came from and was told that they were in the old psychiatric hospital that used to be on the W. Broad St. hill where the DMV offices are now.

I wandered through one of the three computer areas—one is for teens only—and then checked out the children’s section. As noted on the displays pictured below, this is one of four locations with early literacy specialists, and they hold storytimes as a fun and interactive way to teach children Ready for Kindergarten Skills.

Then it was time to check out the racks of new arrivals and go browsing in the stacks in search of some new finds and/or titles from my Amazon Want List.

With books in hand, I settled in for a couple of hours of reading as local community people went about their business in the usual quiet hush of a library.
 

Finally it was time to leave, so I proceeded to the checkout stands near the entrance with my three finds from a fine Monday afternoon spent at the library.