Sycamore Plaza Library - Pickerington Public Library

 

[A note to those of you who get my new blog posts via email:  

Apparently this feature will stop in July of 2021, and I can't find a workable replacement.  You can still follow my posts by going directly to the website for this blog:  skipexplores.blogspot.com  I intend to continue making and reporting on library visits, although probably not weekly as I did for the first year and a half.] 

I visited the main Pickerington Public Library in October of 2019.  The Sycamore Plaza Library is a small (about 4200 square foot) branch library northeast of Pickerington in a shopping plaza on Refugee Rd. across from Pickerington North High School.  (The main library is across the road from Pickerington Central H.S.)  This small branch was opened Sept. 2, 2017, and it offers a full range of services to the community, including a Homework Help Center, meeting room space, wireless printing, and notary services, in addition to its collection of books, DVDs, and more, for all ages.

Like the Pickerington main library, this branch offers a bank of 24-hour pickup lockers out front for people who are unable to access the library during business hours.  Unfortunately these lockers were temporarily out of order today.

Two things caught my eye when I entered:  a June activity board and a display of prizes for the summer reading challenge.  The main activity today was dissecting owl pellets for 6-10 year olds.  The library website said the event was full, so I made sure to arrive afterwards to avoid any crowd.  However the librarian informed me that, while there were 10 children present, these events take place in a tent in the parking lot.  So my caution was unnecessary. 

When someone completes the summer reading challenge, they spin the colored wheel to determine a prize, and then they get to enter a ticket in a drawing for that prize.  Prizes range from gift certificates at places like Target and local restaurants, to admission to a trampoline park and King’s Island, to a Fire Truck Ride to School.  Behind the summer reading challenge display are the library’s nonfiction stacks as well as a copy/FAX machine and a computer printer.  Below the windows to the left is a collection of adult games that can be checked out, and through the windows is a meeting room and Homework Help area that is closed because of COVID.  A wall of windows separates the room from the adult fiction section of the library.

The circulation desk is just to the left upon entering the library.  From there I had a good view down the full length of the children’s section of the library (below left) and of the adult fiction section (below right).  A double wall of shelves separates the two areas, with children’s picture books on one side and adult fiction on the other.  I’m not sure if the tan and red things hanging from the ceiling of the children’s section are supposed to represent flying books or not.

At the far end of the children’s section are two low shelf units of books for toddlers and a tall display of new juvenile books.  The librarian did tell me they were disappointed not to be able to put out the library’s collection of stuffed animals and other playthings because of COVID.  She hoped they might be out by fall.

On the adult fiction side, a number of soft chairs line the window wall to the meeting room.  In the back of the room is a display of materials for Pride Month, and shelves of DVDs and CDs line a hallway to the unisex restrooms.

In the front corner of the library toward the plaza parking lot is a small teen area divided from the children’s area by a short wall.  Shelves holding a nice selection of teen books line the side wall and the short wall.  A tall table and one of the library computers are on t the children’s side of the short wall.

I had a lot of fun browsing through the children’s picture book shelves, and I found a couple of really funny “How to…” books that are part of a series.  I especially enjoyed How to Read to Grandma or Grandpa, since I’m looking forward to becoming a grandpa in a little more than 3 months.

After I finished reading the two children’s picture books, I spent some time exploring the adult fiction shelves.  The collection is relatively small but well organized by genre.  And I was really surprised to find more titles from my Amazon want list than I ever expected.  I ended up having to pick and choose out of eight possibilities to get my checkout selections down to three.  I’ve visited much larger libraries where I wasn’t able to do as well.  Selections in hand, I settled into one of the chairs to examine them further and to spend some time reading the book I brought with me—Arnaldur Indridason’s Icelandic mystery/thriller, The Shadow District.

My selections to borrow today:  the sixth book in Seanna McGuire’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning Wayward Children fantasy series, Across the Green Grass Fields; the sequel to Ernest Kline’s science fiction classic, Ready Player One, Ready Player Two; Tana French’s latest mystery/thriller, The Searcher; and a nonfiction book I couldn’t resist adding to my three fiction choices, The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a companion volume to Gates’ 4-part PBS documentary.

After leaving the library I drove a few miles to a Culver’s for lunch.  After a library visit, I usually try to eat at a local non-chain restaurant, however I’m still avoiding eating inside at a restaurant because of COVID. But Culver’s is hands down my all-time favorite fast food restaurant, and it’s been over a year and a half since I enjoyed their pork loin sandwich and a frozen custard “concrete mixer” (look it up).  And at 71 degrees, I could enjoy eating takeout at one of their outside tables.  So that’s what I did to top off my 65th library visit.