Floyd E. Younkin Branch - Pickaway County Library

Today seemed a perfect spring day for a 30 mile drive to visit the Floyd A. Younkin Branch of the Pickaway County Library in Asheville. Floyd E. Younkin was born in Asheville and was founder and president of several companies in Columbus and in Florida. After his death in 1997, his widow Irene made a generous donation to the fundraising efforts for a library in Asheville, and it was officially opened on  Dec. 16, 1999, the day of Floyd’s birthday. (This is the same Younkin of the Younkin Success Center at the Ohio State University.)

A couple of blocks north of the library is the Cherry Street Diner. So that was the obvious place to get lunch before I visited the library. (I think this is the 12th diner visit I've combined with a library visit.) I had a very nice bacon cheeseburger with sautéed onions and mushrooms with sides of french fries and coleslaw.

The library gives off a homey, small town feel right from the entrance with its whiteboard listing of upcoming activities. Since it was about half past noon, I had missed this morning's Preschool Storytime.

The doors slide open to reveal a long room with a very nice children’s area to the right. The quote on the wall above the computers for children reads: “Everything in my life has taught me that love and learning are the bottom line… for me, this allows the universe to makes sense, to have meaning, and to be beautiful and trustable.”—Gale Warner

There are well-stocked shelves of children’s books with an entire menagerie of stuffed animals. I really liked the window seat at the far end of the children’s area with its many overstuffed pillows.

The table in the middle of the area was clear evidence of the presence of busy children not long before. The pull-out bins make for a nice way to display and make craft materials like crayons, pencils, and balloons available.

On one wall is a fun quilt remembering the 2012 Summer Reading Program. And off to the side is a large meeting room that looked like it might have been the site of the morning’s Preschool Storytime.

Below is the view from the children’s area looking back down the length of the library toward the circulation desk and beyond.

To the right are curved shelves for recorded media and then the computers adult use.

To the left past the circulation desk is a comfortable, well-lit seating area with the shelves for various periodicals. One of those chairs by the windows looked to me like a great place to sit and read.

But first I needed to search the stacks for some books to check out. I’ve actually caught up and finished and returned all of the books I checked out on previous library visits. 

 
Having found the three below, I settled in to read for an hour or so.

This small library provided a wonderful place for reading on a spring day, and at about 2:30 pm I took my three new books to check out at the circulation desk.

I was barely a block north of the library on my drive home when I spotted another library in Asheville. There’s actually one of these just up the street from my house. Libraries are such wonderful things!