The Worthington Park Library is located in the Worthington Park Shopping Center in the northeast part of Worthington. It opened in 2008 with an emphasis on meeting the needs of children and families in the area. Since then it has been expanded twice into additional store fronts—first in 2013 and most recently just this past spring—and it now occupies just over 14,000 sq. ft. in the shopping center. Since I try to eat lunch in the same general neighborhood as the libraries I visit, I decided on Pastimes Pub & Grill at western end of the center. Lunchtime with a burger, fries, and a book was just right.
After lunch I walked up the center to the library, where I was greeted warmly by the staff at the circulation desk. After I explained my retirement project to visit all the libraries in metro Columbus, one of the librarians offered to show me around the library. I was quite impressed with how busy everything was as well as with all that they had to offer in this storefront location. After a quick tour I returned to the entrance to take photos. Straight ahead there are shelves of new and recommended books as well as recorded media and video games. I especially noticed the rolling walker that was available for use by patrons in the library.
To the left of and past the circulation desk there is a large, colorful area for children. First there’s a space for older kids that has a large collection of age appropriate media and books, a number of computers, and some comfortable seating that marks off this area.
Beyond this area is “Story Park” for younger children, with a very large collection of books and other materials as well as an inviting corner marked as a Story Time Carousel. A couple of good friends who are grandparents bring their grandchildren to story time here and recommend it highly.
Back toward the front windows there are still more books and materials for young children. A set of shelves just outside the area offers Discovery Kits—with each bag containing books, music, CDs, manipulative, and suggested activities for children on a selected theme (eg., dinosaurs, farms, zoo animals, etc.,). In addition there are audio books and Launchpad kid-friendly tablets preloaded with 10 or more apps on a given theme targeted for Preschool through 5th grade (eg., letters, numbers, creativity, life skills, etc.,). (I'm told that these work really well to keep kids occupied on long car trips.)
To the right from the library entrance is a large teen area that has comfortable chairs, tables for studying or hanging out, a separate collection of teen fiction and nonfiction books, graphic novels, magazines, books on CD, and a number of computers. This area is reserved exclusively for 7th-12th grade teens in the hours after school during the school year.
Straight back between the new & recommended book shelves and the teen area there is a hallway to the right leading to the adult portion of the library in the space that was added just this spring. Along the way there is a large meeting room, the reserve shelves, and a timeline on the wall of the history of Worthington since its founding in 1803.
In the bookshelf unit pictured above near the meeting room doors there are examples of some of the more unusual items that can be borrowed from this library. Adventure Kits put together items needed to set off on an adventure, like an outdoor excursion or learning to play an instrument. Current kits include things like: a road trip for adults, bird watching, camping for families, learning the ukulele and contain things that might be need for such activities like a tent, binoculars, or a ukulele with tuner. Other items that may be borrowed include a light therapy lamp, a portable jump starter, and a electric power monitor. (The auto code readers, the wireless hotspots, and the air quality monitors were checked out.)
In addition to the large meeting room, the library includes four different study rooms. A couple are along the inside wall, and one is out by the storefront windows.
The large room in the newer portion of the library a a well-lighted and open space. There is a double sided gas fireplace toward the front, with the periodicals and comfortable chairs on the window side and computer stations, study tables and comfortable chairs toward the inside of the library. These gray cushioned chairs with side tables looked especially inviting.
To one side of the large room is a large, glass-walled Homework Help Center with study tables and computers.
The photos below are looking back into the library from alongside the fireplace—first toward the computer stations off to the right and then straight back toward the adult fiction and nonfiction shelves along the far wall and the Homework Help Center on the left.
Throughout my picture taking, I’d already picked out four books to borrow. So I settled into one of the gray cushioned chairs out in the room to read for the next 90 minutes or so. And in fact, I finished one of the books that I’d picked out, Emily Carroll’s Through the Woods. It’s a collection of very dark, gothic horror fairy tales presented in a unique graphic art style. It includes Carroll’s breakout webcomic hit, “His Face All Red” (click HERE).
I returned Through the Woods to the Teen Recommendations shelf where I’d found it, and on my way to check out my other three books I stopped to browse some of the other item available in this library: video games, blue-ray videos, “Binge Boxes” (a collection of 5-6 movies on a given theme—“You provide the popcorn and we’ll do the rest), a nice collection of books by black actors featuring black characters, and (next to the check out station) a Laptop Lending Kiosk for computers to be used in the library.
I had a great afternoon in this fine storefront library, and I left with three new books to read—two fantasy novels from my Amazon Wish List and the third a graphic novel anthology by two of my favorite writer, Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham.
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