Today I decided to visit the smallest of the three branches of the Upper Arlington Public Library, the Miller Park Branch. It’s located on the Arlington Ave. roundabout by Miller Park in a historic building that was repurposed as the area’s first library in 1942. The building was renovated and expanded in 2007. In a 2012 news article about the library's 70th anniversary, the branch manager described this small library as “the community’s living room… a place where people come in to meet one another and sit around the fireplace, and it’s a nice walking community.”
Before heading to the library, I needed to pick out a new restaurant for lunch that I hadn’t been to in Upper Arlington. I chose Loops at the corner of King Ave. & Northwest Blvd. It describes itself as a Chicago style eatery and has been featured on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.” I had a good meatball sub with a side of especially good fries.
The library’s entrance doors face east toward the traffic roundabout. But before entering I walked around for a bit and admired an intriguing sculpture beside the building.
Once inside I could see that this was indeed quite a small library, but the bright, open room with its high, peaked ceiling gave me a good feeling right away.
A bay of window fills the south wall, providing lots of natural light for two study tables.
And on the west wall is that fireplace noted in the article along with four comfortable chairs. I decided right off that one of them would serve as a perfect place for reading. (The day was far too warm for a fire in the fireplace.)
The shelves for books and other media extend to the north down the center of the library, leading to a small area with tables and computers as well as a small activity room off to the side.
Beyond the computers and the activity room is a lovely children’s area with a curving wall of windows wrapped around a storytelling area. It looks like a really fun place for kids.
From the children’s area I headed back in the direction of the library entrance to search the stacks for a book or two to borrow. Despite the relatively small selection, I had no trouble finding three likely possibilities.
With those in hand I headed for the chairs by the fireplace to spend an hour or so immersed in the book I’m currently reading. But first I took several minutes to narrow down my three possibilities to just the one below. (I’m still playing catch up on all the books I’ve borrowed over the past several weeks.)
I had the fireplace on my left, and to the right I had a view of the periodicals racks on the backside of the circulation desk.
This little library seemed a perfect place to spend an afternoon in during National Library Week.
My favorite library quote so far for this National Library Week: “The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.” – Rita Dove
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