Before visiting the Northern Lights branch library on Cleveland Ave., I decided I’d get lunch at The Pit BBQ Grille. This restaurant was started in 2016 by four black men, all graduates of OSU (including former OSU football stars Chimdi Chekwa and Bryant Browning), who established their restaurant in the struggling Northern Lights Shopping Center in the Linden neighborhood because they wanted, in their words, “to serve that community” because there was “not too much going on outside of fast food restaurants.” (See article.) They serve homestyle barbecue grilled meats along with a selection of traditional soul food sides. I had the lunch special—rib tips with fresh cut fries for a very reasonable $5 plus a drink plus tip.
The Northern Lights branch library is at the corner of Cleveland Ave. and Lehner Rd. about a mile north of the Northern Lights Shopping Center. It’s one of the newer libraries in the CML system. The original 1993 building was renovated and more than doubled in size in 2016 to become the largest branch in the system at that time (see link).
I entered the library from a large parking lot behind the library. The building has two wings set at an angle to each other. (Screen image from Apple Maps.)
My immediate impression upon entering the library was of space and lots of natural light. The large lobby between the parking lot entrance and an entrance from Lehner Rd, is brightly lit by long strips of clerestory windows. (Library information indicates that the lighting automatically adjusts with natural light.) The photo on the left below shows the circulation desk and the entrance from the parking lot. The photo on the right shows the Lehner Rd. entrance, the view down the children’s wing of the library, and on the far side of the circulation desk a hallway that leads to three meeting rooms with movable walls, a small kitchenette, and rest rooms.
The adults/teens wing extends back toward Cleveland Ave., with several glass-walled rooms on the right and a room filled with bookshelves on the left. Seating areas and displays of new arrivals extend down the center.
A Learning Lab includes laptop computers where, among other things, library patrons can create resumes and apply for jobs.
Next there is a very large Homework Help area with college banners hung above one wall. One of the librarians commented that it would be filled with students when school let out.
After the Homework Help area there is a teen area and then a large room with a large number of computers for general use. Both have many large windows along the outside wall.
At the end of the wing is a wood paneled wall with in inset fish tank, a bright spacious Quiet Room on the far side of the fish tank, and (to the left) five study rooms for individual of small group use.
Heading back toward the circulation desk, I checked out the area of book shelves for fiction and nonfiction. There’s also as a small room with periodicals on display. I will say that as much as I love the openness and all the all the light in this library and as important as the many services it offers are, I do wish that books had a greater presence in the library. With the bookshelves tucked away in a room off to one side like this, books seem almost like an afterthought.
I continued my exploring of the library by heading to the children’s wink. Just as I’ve seen in other Columbus Metropolitan libraries, there’s a stylized school bus marking off a dedicated Ready for Kindergarten area for preschoolers and their families. On the side toward the windows are several computer stations for young children.
At the far end of the room is a corner with three couches that would seem to be arranged for parent education. The poster in center of the lefthand picture says, “You Are Your Child’s First Teacher.” To the right of the couches is an area for children’s story time.
Back in the direction of the lobby area and circulation desk there are bookshelves for children’s books, the computer area, and an area for books and recorded media for older children.
While exploring the library and taking pictures, I’d picked out three books from the various “new arrivals” displays. So I headed up to the chairs in front of the fish tank to settle in to read for a while.
When it came time to leave, I headed to the self-checkout terminals under a colorful artwork and checked out my three book selections.
As with several other of the new CML libraries I’ve visited (like Driving Park, Northside, and Linden), I really like the bright light-filled rooms and the openness of the contemporary architecture. But I find myself wishing the spaces were warmer with a bit more color and more wood finishes, and most especially that there were more books. As valuable as meeting rooms, computers, and programs are to serve the public, to me a public library is first and foremost about books and reading.
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