The Granville Public Library is the one Columbus partnership library that is located in Licking County. According the the library’s website, the oldest part of the library on Main St. in Granville was designed by prominent Ohio architect Frank Packard in 1923. Renovations were performed in 1970 and 2007 as the library was expanded to its present size.
After my 35 mile drive from home this morning, my time in Granville kicked off in fine fashion with a late breakfast at Aladdin’s Restaurant across Main St. from the library. Aladdin’s describes itself as an old school diner with vintage flair. The blueberry pancakes were especially good.
After breakfast I had to be sure to move my car so as to ensure having enough time for my library visit, since parking is limited to two hours on Main St. The steps up to the library door on Main St. has been chained off, so the main entrance is now on the side, off of a brick walkway between the library and the Robbins Hunter Museum to the east.
Once inside, I headed up a short flight of stairs to the circulation desk, where a librarian greeted me and pointed out where I could find things in the three floors of the library. To the right on the main floor I could see the main reading room, so I headed that way first.
The reading room is a lovely parlor-like room with a barrel vaulted ceiling and plenty of windows, all with window seats. To one side are the periodicals and a number of comfortable looking, well-lighted chairs that looked ideal for sitting and reading. To the other are tables and chairs along with bookshelves for large print books.
I spent some time looking more closely at a couple of interesting objects in the room: a model sailing ship and a bicentennial quilt from the Granville Bicentennial in 2005.
Turning back the way I came, I could see the main floor circulation desk and the stairs to the second floor. Just to the left past the circulation desk is a room with some of the computers for the use of library patrons.
Looking south toward the open stairway provides a view of the bookshelves, with fiction on the main floor and reference and nonfiction on the second floor. The view from the other side of the stairway looks back toward the entrance and up toward another circulation desk and the Teen Area of the library.
The main floor stacks include shelves for recorded media as well as the fiction shelves. And at the far south end of the room are large windows with a couple of cushioned chairs.
From there I headed down the stairs to the Children’s Area. (There is also an elevator.) At the bottom of the stairs I found some stained glass panels as well as a bulletin board covered with children’s art work. A community meeting room is also on this lower level.
The Children’s area is very large room with fun murals on two walls and a large wall of windows to the south. Various fun spaces are defined by different colored carpeting. I had a wonderful conversation with two librarians there about visiting libraries. And on the topic of favorite places in a library for reading, both librarians had their own suggestion for the Granville library. One said she especially liked the main reading room, while the other said she liked the chairs by arched window in the Teen Area with its view of the Victoria Woodhull Clock Tower of the Robbins Hunter Museum.
From the Children’s Area I proceeded back up the stairs and then on up to the second floor. Here there is another circulation desk and a large glass-walled meeting room.
On past the meeting room is a large Teen Area, with a rather striking object atop the first of the bookshelves for teen level books.
The computers in the foreground of the picture above are connected to 3D-printers that allow teens and adults to design and print three-dimensional objects. According to the posted flyer, people are allowed one free monthly 3D print.
Recalling the earlier suggestion for a reading spot, I located the arched window, and it did indeed offer a wonderful view of the clock tower and museum building.
As an added bonus, as the clock struck 1 pm, a statue of Victoria Woodhull made an appearance on the clock tower as the bells rang. Check out the picture below of the bronze plaque about Victoria Woodhull to learn more about this woman who was the first woman to run as a candidate for president in 1872—48 years before the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. Her running mate was black abolitionist leader, Frederick Douglas.
To the south on the second floor are the book shelves for reference and nonfiction. The stairwell is brightly lit from clerestory windows to the north and to the south. At the far end of the room is a glass-walled meeting room with a wall of windows to the outside.
I headed back to the stairway and on down so I could browse in the fiction stacks to find some books to check out.
Having nearly depleted my stack of library books over the past week, I decided to go with three books for this library visit—two thriller mystery/thrillers by favorite authors and the first book in a science fiction series that was recommended to me.
Then I settled into one of the reading room chairs, knowing I still had just over an hour until I had to get back to my car to avoid a parking ticket. Out the window to the side I could almost see the restaurant where I’d gotten such a good breakfast.
Before I headed for home, I stopped to check out the statue in front of what was formerly the library’s main entrance. It shows two children enjoying a book along with their dog, a Welsh corgi.
What an enjoyable day I had in Granville!
