Before visiting the main Pickerington Public Library yesterday, I stopped and picked up a good friend to join me for brunch at the Olde Village Diner on E. Columbus St. in the historic downtown area of Pickerington. It’s a homey little place in a small white house. I had a couple of blueberry pancakes with bacon and home fries, while my friend had the Greek omelet with an English muffin.
The main Pickerington Public Library is located south of town across the road from the Pickerington Central High School campus. In 1915 Pickerington became one of the smallest communities in the nation to qualify for a Carnegie library. Over time, the library outgrew the Carnegie building, which is now a museum and headquarters of the historical society. The current building was built in 1993 and then renovated and expanded in 2005.
As I walked up to the library entrance, I noted something I had only seen before at the library kiosk in Millersport—24-hour pickup lockerss for people who are unable to access the library during business hours. I image this might be especially valuable for commuters. Just inside the entrance I noted preparations under way for a large Friends of the Library book sale.
As I proceeded further into the library I thought to myself, “Wow! This looks like a great space to spend the afternoon browsing and reading.” I loved all the wood beams and rafters along with the skylights. And everywhere I looked there were bookcases and shelves of books.
The “quick picks” shelves offered some interesting possibilities, but those books can only be checked out for seven days, and I’m already 6 library books behind in my reading. It’s a good thing the library does automatic renewals on books.
Off to the left from the entrance is a very large children’s area, and my eye was immediately drawn to the bright red Blauser Farm “barn.” Inside the barn is a nice multipurpose area for kids.
In front of the barn there’s a table with computer stations for children along with a fun face cut-out board based on the cover of the Little Blue Truck children’s book. What fun for a kid to have Mom or Dad take a photo of their face on a book cover. (I didn’t notice the small family rest room until I looked at my photos at home.)
The brightly lit children’s space has a number of play spaces as well as a very large collection of children’s books on shelves throughout the area.
I went looking for an Elephant & Piggie book by Mo Willems book I hadn’t read yet and thoroughly enjoyed the twist at the end of There Is a Bird on Your Head! And I was especially pleased to come across Circle, Square, Moose—a silly book about shapes that turns chaotic when Moose starts acting up. An earlier book by the same author and illustrator, Z Is for Moose, was a great Christmas gift addition to my wife’s alphabet book collection. It was fun to see Moose up to his old tricks.
But the highlight of my browsing in the children’s picture books was Kwame Alexanders How to Read a Book, with cut-out illustrations by Melissa Sweet. I took the photo below of my favorite page, with the wonderful advice, “Don’t rush through: Your Eyes need time to taste. Your soul needs room to bloom.”
I continued my tour of this wonderful children’s area by examining some of the teacher kits available for check out and looking over the schedule of events and activities (presuming they were the same for this month as for September).
I had to wait a while for several children to finish looking at the fish before I could take a photo of the large fish tank. On past the fish tank I came across a number of computer stations specifically intended for the use of parents of small children. This time of year the windows provide a good view of fall color.
From the children’s area I headed for the adult fiction and nonfiction section. But on the way I stopped to look at the Halloween display of pumpkins decorated as story book characters from Toy Story, the Muppets, and Frozen. I especially liked the 2-pumpkin depiction of Olaf.
To one side of the display I could look toward the teen section of the library with its YA-fiction shelves and long row of cushioned chairs. To the other side there is a separate room for the Homework Help Center.
Down toward the far end of the library there is an area for computer stations, a Quiet Study Room, and both a small and a large conference room.
Along with the very large collections of books and recorded media, there are three bookcases filled with board games for check out as well as a rack of backpacks filled with materials on various topics like hiking, birds, and rocks & fossils.
As I browsed through the Adult Fiction, Mystery, and Science Fiction & Fantasy sections, I took note of the many comfortable seating areas throughout the library—many with lovely views of the surrounding fall foliage and others out more in the center of things. I especially had my eye on the couch and chairs grouped in front of a wall of windows as a great place to sit and read.
By the time I had picked out 5-6 books as possibles and then winnowed them down to just two, the couch and chairs were occupied by students who’d come over to the library from the nearby high school. And since more and more students kept coming, I quickly made my way to a high-top table nearby with a fine view of several bird feeders and the fall colors.
Indeed, this library did prove to be a great space for browsing and reading on a fall afternoon! I loved my time here. But eventually it was time to head for home—although first I needed to make my way to the circulation desk near the entrance to check out my two new library books. One is the final volume in a trilogy of spy novels by Jason Matthews and the other is something of thriller with a touch of American gothic horror.
