This week I visited the Main Library of the Upper Arlington Public Library on Tremont Road. Almost across the street in the Tremont Center is Chef-o-Nette Restaurant, a diner/family restaurant that has been in business since 1955 and is something of an institution in Upper Arlington. Since they serve breakfast all day, I had a late breakfast of pancakes and home fries before heading to the library. While I was there, two different classes came in from a nearby elementary school, and Chef-o-Nette serve them a Christmas lunch. When I went to the counter to pay my bill, I discovered their candy display included Pearson’s Vanilla Buns, a favorite candy bar from my childhood that I’ve only found in the last 20+ years in an Amish store in Holmes County.
The library was built and dedicated in 1959 as the Tremont Library branch of the Grandview Heights Public Library. In 1967 the Upper Arlington Public Library System was created, and this library became the Main Library in the system. The number of cardholders in the library system actually is about double the total population of the City of Upper Arlington, reflecting that all libraries receiving state funding must serve all state residents on an equal basis.
The library entrance leads to a spacious entryway between the New Books shelves (where I found John Sandford’s latest book, Bloody Genius, just out the end of October—Yay!) and the Avenue of Trees with Christmas trees decorated by local groups. Signs direct library patrons to vote for their favorite.
A little farther in there’s a well-stocked Friends of the Library Bookstore and then a large open space with various seating areas. The book shelves for Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction are on to the left.
Around to the left is the Circulation Desk (too many people for pictures), the shelves for reserved items, as well as one of the library’s three meeting rooms (along with a selection of framed art prints).
To the right is a hallway leading past a stairway to a lower lever and on into area of the library for children and youth. The selection of books for various ages is quite large, and I enjoyed browsing in the Chapter Books and the Picture Books.
There is a nice corner Activity Space with a colorful rug well suited for story time.
In the Picture Books section, I found a large selection of Mo Willems’ books and ended up sitting on the floor and reading three of them. Ever since my wife and I laughed our way through one of his Elephant & Piggie books at the Millersport Library Kiosk, I have especially looked for books in this series. (I Really Like Slop! is especially funny.)
There is a relatively small Teen Area (which I was unable to photograph because of the several teens who were using it). But the books selection for teens is quite large, and I was able to find two books on my Amazon want list.
On through the Teen Area there is a large room devoted to various recorded media for checkout, including a selection of old school vinyl records. There are also computer stations for library patrons in this room.
Down the stairs to the lower level (the elevator is out of service for the next few weeks), there is a meeting room, a small, 75-seat theater, a very large reference room with computers and a quiet reading area, and the Ohio Room with local history resources.
Along the back (south) wall of the open space in the Adult Section of the library is a very nice gallery display of works by local artists.
The Adult Section is dominated by and bright atrium-like space that runs the entire length of this wing of the library, extending to a wall of windows at the end. Down the center of this space is a long line of study tables, and to the sides are book shelves, with Fiction to one side and Non-Fiction to the other. I enjoyed browsing in the extensive Mystery section, and in the Fiction section I found two more books to add to the three I’d already picked out. I’ve been looking for Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Troupe for the past year, but so far I’d only found it in the downtown Madison, WI, library where I couldn’t borrow it.
Around the outside of the book stacks are several inviting places to sit and read or study—including both booths and tables along the windows of the north wall.
Browsing and exploring completed, I decided to sit and finish reading a book on my Kindle in one of the upholstered chairs by the windows at the end of the atrium space, with a nice view back up the atrium toward the circulation desk.
By mid-afternoon it was time for me to check out the five books I’d chosen and head for home. All is all it was a fine way to spend a cold, December Wednesday afternoon.
Last week my wife Kathy and I traveled to Marana, AZ, (about 20 miles NW of Tucson) for her step-father’s 80th birthday celebration. I took the opportunity one morning to visit the nearby Wheeler Taft Abbett Sr. Branch of the Pima County Public Library. This branch is one of 27 locations in the extensive Pima County library system. It is named for its principal benefactor who donated one million dollars in 2006 to build this 20,000 square-foot library branch that was dedicated in 2008.
In the Tucson area it is not uncommon to see solar power installations like the one at the library that double as sun shades for parked cars. Just outside the library entrance there is a large metal sculpture with cut outs of words. There has been near record rains in the Tucson area before we arrived, so the nearby catch basin was full of water.
The library’s glass-walled entrance was most inviting, yet it did not prepare me for the sheer spaciousness of this bright and open library with two entire walls of windows and a high open ceiling that seems to sweep from indoors to outdoors with expansive sun shields all around the building. These are designed to keep the intense sun from overheating the building, especially on the 100+ degree Fahrenheit days common in the summer.
This large open space offers separate areas for computer stations, study carrels, comfortable seating areas, and shelves for books, recorded media, and periodicals. In addition to the glass walls, the concrete walls had clerestory windows all the way around. The ceiling seems almost to float, with only a small number of supporting posts.
The view to the east of the Santa Catalina Mountains is almost magical. The foreground of the photo shows part of the Silverbell District Park that surrounds the library.
The display board just inside the entrance announces the day’s activities in the Children’s Room and in the Community Room, which is just inside the library entrance doors. I was most intrigued by the 3 pm activity in the Children’s Room, “Read to a Dog.”
In one corner of this large room is a space specifically for Teens. Glass panel walls set it off, but it is still quite open like the rest of the library. This gathering space offers computers stations and comfortable seating along with book shelves for teen fiction and nonfiction.
There are bookcases for teen fiction and nonfiction, and a display board announces a variety of teen activities throughout the month.
As a visitor from Ohio, I knew I would not be able to borrow any books, but I was on the lookout for a comfortable place to sit and read the book I’d brought with me. Looking from the Teen Space, I spotted various study tables and carrels.
My eyes were especially drawn to the corner where the two large glass walls meet. There were numerous chairs here and all along the longer wall—all with that amazing view of the Santa Catalina Mountains.
Before sitting down to read however, I wanted to check out the Kids’ Place, which is a separate space off the left hand side of the large room. Just inside the Kids’ Place there’s a Story Room.
I wasn’t able to take photos of the play area in the Kid’s Place because there were so many children playing there. The area for computer stations and the seating area near the large windows were momentarily unoccupied, allowing me to take pictures.
I stopped to admire the artwork posted along one wall—watercolor mosaics of prickly pear cacti painted by 6th-graders at the school next door, the Lehman Academy of Excellence.
Searching through the children’s books, I found a Mo Willems book that was new to me, so I sat down to laugh my way through reading Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs. That Willem’s take on the story would be a bit twisted was clear on the very first page, where the third dinosaur after the Papa and the Momma is “some other Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway.” And when the three dinosaurs make three bowls of chocolate pudding instead of porridge and then Goldilocks comes to taste them, “the first bowl of chocolate pudding was too hot, but Goldilocks ate it all anyway because , hey it’s chocolate pudding, right?"
Having thoroughly enjoyed Mo Willems’ inventive story, I headed back to that inviting corner with all the glass to settle in and read for the next hour. What a great reading space, with that great view to one side and another back toward the entrance across the entire library space! (My words and pictures really cannot do justice to it.)
After an hour it was time for lunch, but first I wanted to walk around the entire library to see what the glass walls and sun shade looked like from outside. It’s all quite striking.
For lunch I decided to stop at a nearby In-N-Out Burger—a burger chain I like but can’t visit in Ohio because it operates only in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Texas. I had my usual when I’m visiting in Arizona—a Double Double cheeseburger with fries and a drink. (The photos are borrowed from Google Maps.)
It was a fine topper to a great morning in Marana, AZ!
