Plain City Public Library

Yesterday was a cold and very blustery day, and I was at my laptop zooming in on the Google map of Plain City, OH, and trying to decide whether to make the 15 mile drive to visit the town library. Then I saw there was a diner on the west end of Main St., and that decided it for me. I’m always up for trying a new diner. And I sure was glad I went—both for the diner and for the library. Jim’s Diner is an unassuming yellow concrete block building on the south side of Main St. just west of U.S. highway 42.

Inside the door are some tables along with some more in a room straight ahead, but I decided to join the people seated to the right at the small counter that wraps around the space where two women were busy both taking orders and cooking. This was clearly a favorite place for local folks, as the women seemed to know everyone there by name and their usual order.

After a fine brunch of 2 eggs, bacon, a pancake, and home fries, then came a real treat. One of the women had brought out a pan of cherry & pineapple dump cake still warm from the oven. In turn, nearly everyone at the counter asked for a serving, so I joined right in. Yummy! Before I left I had a chance to talk with the owner, Jim Moore, who told me he’d been in business there for 39 years.

Then I headed back east into town on Main St. to the Plain City Public Library.  Inside the entrance there are book shelves for adult fiction straight ahead, and to the right is the circulation desk and a much larger portion of the library.

I introduced myself to a gentleman at the desk, and he told me the library had undergone extensive renovation that was completed just last May. Before taking me around to see some of the library’s new features, he demonstrated some new equipment the library had just obtained using a recent technology grant. I was especially intrigued by the 3D-printer and the book scanner. They also acquired equipment for digitizing photos, slides, negatives, videocassette tapes, and cassette tape recordings.

  
One of the first things I noted as we toured the library was a new, especially versatile meeting room with folding divider walls. There is a large area immediately outside the room that can be adapted to include it for larger meeting.

This is done by rolling away a number of large bookshelves that are on casters. (I’ve often wished for something similar at home to pack more bookcases into a room.) My guide said the large windows and door to the outside were added during the renovation to connect the library with the outside.

My tour guide especially wanted to show me the children’s storytelling area—a large round space set off by curved walls of bookshelves filled with books for children. This space is definitely a highlight of this library.

A fun feature of this children's area is an additional child-sized door into the space. I should note here that all the flooring in the library that appears to be wood or laminate is actually a tight, low-pile carpet. It looks so uncannily like wood that I had to get down and feel it to tell for sure.

Here are some photos I took as I walked around the wall of bookshelves, all containing books for children, and looked at some of gathering spaces that surround the children’s storytelling area.

As we left the children’s area, my guide pointed out a set of shelves devoted to books and audio visual resources especially for teachers.

As I explored the library on my own, I came across a number of computers as well as several inviting areas for sitting and reading.

After browsing the adult and teen fictions shelves and finding a number of books on my Amazon want list, I settled in to read for the next hour in front of the new windows, with a great view toward lot next door to the library. I was told that an outdoor patio is planned for sometime in the future and that the lot is currently used for the Public Library Garden Project. Later when I left for home, I drove around the block first so I could take a photo of the area from the street.

I had a wonderful time eating at Jim’s Diner and visiting the Plain City Public Library. I loved this small-town library. My book finds for the day included the first two books in a new young-adult trilogy by Phillip Reeve as well thrillers by John Sandford and Joe R. Lansdale.