Having been dedicated just a year ago, the Hilliard Branch is one of the newest branch buildings in the Columbus Metropolitan Library system. At 63,000 square feet it is the largest of the 22 branch libraries as well—at least in part because it was repurposed from what was supposed to be the community center building of a senior living complex that was never finished and was abandoned in 2009. As you can see above, the building entrance shows a lot of features of senior living community building.
But before visiting the library I had arranged to have lunch with a friend at the Starliner Diner in Hilliard. I had enjoyed eating at their old location on Cemetery Rd., but I’d not yet eaten at their new location on Main St. in downtown Hilliard (link). The rather plain brick building is not as funky as the old one, but the quirky interior looks much the same (as anyone who remembers the old location can see in the photo). More importantly, the food is every bit as good. I ordered from the breakfast menu since Starliner has frequently been named as having the best breakfast in Columbus. I had an excellent plate of blueberry pancakes, egg, and bacon. (It was so good, I forgot to take a food photo.)
When I arrived at the library I found that the the very large parking lot in front, which I estimated at more than 160 parking places, was almost full. This was by far the busiest library I have visited so far. There were people of all ages in the building, and a contact buzz of conversation could be heard almost everywhere inside. All 11 of the study rooms were in use, and people were using nearly all the seating areas. As a result it was really hard for me to take photos in some areas while avoiding showing identifiable people.
The main library entrance opens on a lobby area with the main circulation desk and a wood paneled staircase to the second floor.
Ahead and to the left is a large area dedicated for younger children. It includes lots of bookshelves as well as areas for Kindergarten Readiness and storytelling. My pictures do not do justice to how busy this area was with many children and parents.
On the other side of the main level there are three private study rooms, a cafe, a part of the library for older children, a large Homework Help Center, and a large community meeting room. The cafe area looked especially bright and inviting,
The older children area had shelves for juvenile books and other media and a number of computers for children 11 and younger. With all of the computers in use, I decided to limit myself to a photo of the sign.
As in all of the other new CML libraries I've visited, the Homework Help Center, the study rooms, and community meeting rooms have glass walls. (The Hilliard Room pictured below is actually on the upper level.)
Extending to the south on the far side of the building is a large room that was intended for a swimming pool for the senior living community center. The pool was filled in, and the “Pavilion” is now a large glass-walled space filled with natural light, chairs and a number of patio-like tables with yellow umbrellas. I decided I would definitely return here for some of my reading time in this library.
Having walked through the very large lower area, I proceeded to the upper level which houses teen and adult books, a dedicated teen area, eight more study rooms, a large “quiet room,″ public computers and two more community meeting rooms. As on the main level tables and chairs are scattered throughout the upper level, and there are also rest rooms on this level.
Toward the western part of the building, the shelves for books and other media are arranged between broad open areas on both sides. The north side has lots of widows, numerous seating areas, and artwork on the walls.
The teen area includes shelves of Y/A books and media, two banks of public computers, and a large screen television. I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the main room with public computers and printer/copiers, because nearly all of the computers were in use.
Heading back to the east, I I had a good view of several of the study rooms and the large Quiet Room off on the far side of the staircase.
A couple of things that caught my eye as I wandered through the Hilliard library: a shelf unit of popular fiction and nonfiction devoted to books in languages other than English; and a lot of posters promoting this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, which offers prizes and other incentives for reading time by readers in four age categories—0-4, 5-11, 12-17, and 18+.
Having spotted the shelves for general fiction, mystery, and science fiction books, I went hunting for books to borrow. Since returning from my travels that included visits to two libraries in Madison, WI, and one in Malden, MA, I have not had any library books checked out. So I suppose I have an excuse for picking out four books from my Amazon Wish list to go along with the Y/A and the Juvenile book I had picked out earlier in those sections. (So once again I can commence playing catch-up on reading library books.)
I took my pile of books down to the cafe, where I got a Diet Coke and sat down at a table with a view of the lobby and staircase to finish reading my current Kindle book (James Grady’s Condor: The Short Takes). The Friends of the Library book sale shelves are there as well, but with six books in my stack I wasn’t tempted to buy anything.
When I’d finished the Kindle book (and the Diet Coke), I headed to the Pavilion to begin on the juvenile book—Michael Fry’s How to Be a Supervillain: Bad Guys Finish First. It’s hard to resist a story about a budding super villain who decides to opt out of villainy and become a librarian, only to discover that librarians are a kick-butt secret society who will stop at nothing to control—and shush—the world. (Michael Fry is co-creator and writer of one of my favorite comic strips, Over the Hedge [link].) Here I am seated in the pavilion, and here’s the view I had before becoming totally lost in this very funny book.
Here are the six books I checked out. I have been looking for most of them over many library visits, but Octavia Gone is a just-released book in a favorite science fiction series, and The Glass Sentence jumped into my hands from the New Books shelf in the Y/A section. Thomas Perry is, perhaps, my favorite writer of thrillers.
The Hilliard branch is a stunning, new library that would be an outstanding place to sit and read (or do whatever) on almost any day. Based on how busy it was today, people in Hilliard seem to think so too.
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