A number of factors contributed to my decision to visit the Canal Winchester Branch Library. For one, in 19 years living in Columbus I’d never been in the city of Canal Winchester, a town of about 8,600 that was established in 1828 on the Ohio & Erie Canal midway between Lancaster and Columbus. In addition, this branch library was the second of CML’s express branches, and I wanted to see it after visiting the Marion-Franklin Express Branch. It was opened in January of 2016, becoming the newest of CML’s 23 locations.
But perhaps the deciding factors was that it is Burger & Beer Week in the Columbus area, with some 75 different restaurants offering special burgers priced at just $6. I was especially intrigued by the Southern Charm burger offered at Barrel & Boar BBQ Gastropub on High St. in Canal Winchester—a brisket & chuck blend burger with pimento cheese, crispy onions, and a slice of fried green tomato. It turned out to be flat out amazing, and the hand-cut fries excellent. And to top it off, how could I resist the Hot Bacon Brownie a la mode, served in a hot cast iron skillet? Oh so yummy!
The Canal Winchester express branch library is located in the former gymnasium space of the Canal Winchester Education Center (the city’s former high school), sharing the building with the school district offices and the National Barber Museum. This library came about as a collaborative effort between the Canal Winchester city government and Columbus Metropolitan Library. It’s great to see under-served areas receive new library services.
The library entrance is behind the school building off a large parking lot. At 5,400 square feet it’s somewhat larger than the Marion-Franklin express branch. With its lowered ceiling, the large space doesn’t seem at all like a school gym. The center space has book displays, tables and chairs, and comfortable seating.
Express branches seek to offer many of the same services as larger CML branches on a limited 40 hours per week schedule, while gauging customer usage. There are fewer books in the branch collection, but patrons do have access by computer to the entire collection in the 56 branches that make up the Central Library Consortium and then beyond to interlibrary loan. The hold shelves demonstrate that Canal Winchester patrons are taking advantage of this service.
The library has large areas around the room for computers, homework help, services for children. The Homework Help program provides after school help to students in grades K-12. The Homework Help area includes computer stations and work tables, and as in similar areas in other CML branches there are college banners posted on the walls to help inspire students. The library also offers a Reading Buddies program for K-3 students to help equip them to pass the Ohio third grade reading tests.
At one end of the library there are about a dozen computer stations for adult patrons of the library.
The children’s area takes up roughly a third of the space in the library, with low shelves of books, children’s computer stations, and a “school bus” play structure that is part of the kindergarten readiness program.
Ever since I visited the Licking County Library Kiosk in Millersport and read a children’s book there by Mo Willems, I’ve tried to find a new Mo Willems book to read while visiting each library. Today that book was Mo Willem’s That Is Not a Good Idea. I almost always end up laughing out loud at some plot twist in Willem’s books, and this was no exception. (To describe the plot would give too much away.)
The limited collection of adult fiction and teen fiction did indeed keep me from finding any books on my Amazon wish list. But several possibilities on the displays of new books and quick picks did catch my eye.
I ended up with three books to check out—a new graphic novel retelling the snow white story, a new teen fantasy novel, and an adult thriller.
My three new books in hand, I headed to the cushioned chairs in the center of the library space to finish reading the book I brought with me today, The Bad-Assed Librarians of Timbuktu. It’s a fascinating account of how some 350,000 ancient Islamic and secular texts in Timbuktu libraries were spirited out of the city to save them from destruction after Al Qaeda forces took over the city. What an amazing true story!
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