Alexandria Public Library

It was sunny and about 79 degrees this morning, which made for a wonderful 32-mile drive with the windows down to Alexandria for lunch and a library visit. Alexandria is a village of roughly 500 people about 5 miles towards Columbus from Granville. After reading the recommendations on Google, I was especially looking forward to eating at Ragamuffins Coffee House, one of just two places to get lunch in the village. (The other is a pub attached to a Marathon gas station.) I’m not a coffee drinker, so I can’t judge them for their coffee (direct trade and locally roasted), but Ragamuffins did not disappoint in the food department. I had a tasty chicken salad croissant, followed by a very nice scoop of chocolate covered blackberry gelato.

A bit less than two blocks northwest on Main St. from Ragamuffins is the Alexandria Public Library. I stopped out front to read the Ohio Historical Marker remembering Willoughby Dayton Miller, a dentist who was born in Alexandria in 1853 who was the first person to accurately describe the role of bacteria in tooth decay.

As I neared the entrance of the library from W. Maple St. my eyes were drawn to a Little Free Library that I learned was recently donated to the Alexandria Library as well as to a small, informal food pantry—“Take what you need—Leave what you can”—dedicated by Girl Scout Troop 1743.

Upon entering the library, I approached the circulation desk and introduced myself to the Library Director, Carrie Strong. She made me feel especially welcome as she took me on a tour of the library—which is really quite large for such a small village. (On their website there’s a quite extensive history of the library since it was founded in 1935.) She told me how she had grown up in Alexandria and both she and her brother visited this library as small children. 

As you can see in the photo above, the Adult and Teen Sections of the library are on beyond the circulation desk. Straight ahead from the entrance are racks for audio visual media, and beyond them are resources for teachers as well as the computers for library patrons.

To the left along the front of the library is a very large Children’s Area. Along the windows are a craft table and some comfortable seating.

Throughout this library I was struck again and again by the shear number of books in this independent village library. (It is not a branch of some larger system.) In some areas the place seemed a bit crowded with books—which I really enjoyed seeing. The collection in the Children’s Section was particularly extensive. And I was especially struck by the long shelf of Discovery Bags for families on various topics that had all been donated in memory of a young girl named Mary K. Elizabeth Butt. The bags include a number of books as well as a selections of other materials like DVDs, games, and an idea card.

Down to the far end through the children’s book stacks and then in a wing to the right is a colorful and inviting Children’s Room for storytelling that is also large enough for school classes that come here during the school year for library time from the nearby Alexandria Elementary School.

Farther back in this wing is a large public meeting room that also houses a wall of shelves of Friends of the Library Books for sale to support the library. Since I need a new library card here to borrow books (as was the case in the Fairfield County libraries), I decided search out a couple to purchase instead of checking anything out. I succeeded in finding the two books below by a couple of my favorite mystery authors.

The Teen Area included an especially large collection of teen fiction and graphic novels, a comfortable seating area, and a nook at one end with an especially inviting overstuffed chair. An intriguing multi-panel art work decorates the wall above some of the bookshelves.

As in the rest of the library, everywhere I looked in the Adult Section were more and more books. I really was pleased to see the books be such dominating presence in this library. (It reminded me of home that way.) I spent a fair amount of time browsing, even though I didn't intend to check anything out. There were separate sections for general fiction, mysteries, science fiction, large print books, nonfiction, and new books in all those categories.

After I finished exploring the library and taking pictures, I settled into that most inviting overstuffed chair surrounded by teen and young adult books to spend the next hour or so reading.

From the drive out to Alexandria to lunch at Ragamuffins and the time I spent in this wonderful library to the drive home, this was one of the most enjoyable of my visits as I continue to explore all the public libraries (along with nearby local restaurants) in the Columbus metro area. A special thank you to the Library Director Carrie Strong for her gracious welcome and sharing so much information about the Alexandria library.

Pataskala Public Library

After more than week of summer heat wave, today’s predicted high of 78 with lots of sun made it a perfect day to drive out of the city to visit the public library in Pataskala—a town of about 16,000 about 17 miles east of Columbus. In addition, I was really looking forward to eating a late breakfast at the Nutcracker Family Restaurant there, which describes itself as a 50s style diner (click HERE).

As the photos below make clear, the 50s elements are present throughout the restaurant—along with a massive collection of more than 200 nutcrackers. (The neon sign above the red car says, “Step Back to the 50s.”) I really enjoyed a fine plate of ham & eggs with blueberry pancakes. The pies sure looked tempting.

It was only a few blocks from the Nutcracker to the Pataskala Public Library located on S. Vine St. in a quiet neighborhood of tree-lined streets. The library has been at this location since 1969 and underwent an extensive renovation in 2010/2011.

Upon entering the library the first thing I noticed was just how much space was devoted to books, with the adult section to the left of the circulation desk and the children’s & teen’s sections to the right. In so many of the newer libraries the books seem to be pushed off to the side. And while I understand that libraries these days are offering a lot more than just books (like the computer stations on both sides), I do like the sense of being surrounded by shelves upon shelves of books.

On around to the right toward the front of the building there is a large open storytelling and play area for younger children. The area for teens is toward the rear of the building. Computers for children and teens are located back towards the circulation desk. And everywhere there are shelves of age-appropriate books.

To the left from the library entrance is a small study room, a large set of shelves for new books, and a number of computers for adult patrons of the library.

A little farther on is a group of comfortable chairs as well as an alcove with a small couch and shelves for periodicals.

Surrounded by the fiction and nonfiction bookshelves at the rear of this side of the building are a couple of small study tables, and I spotted an old-school piece of equipment I hadn’t seen in recent visits to other libraries—namely, a microfilm reader.

I especially enjoyed browsing in the well-lighted stacks in both ends of this library, seeking out books from my Amazon wish list as well as surprises.

I also had fun checking out some of the more unusual items on display in this library. The cat figurine is just so wonderfully whimsical.

I ended up finding so many potential books to borrow that I had to pick and choose to get down to just the three books below—one from the juvenile shelves and two from the science fiction section. Unlike last week, I was able to check them out without getting another library card. The librarian told me that right now only the Fairfield County system and the Alexandria library require their own library cards.

Having explored the library and checked out the three books, I settled into one of the comfortable chairs to read for a couple of hours.  I finished the book I brought with me and turned it in, leaving me with just seven library books checked out at the present time. I'm hoping to get more caught up by next week's library visit.