Driving Park Branch - Columbus Metropolitan Library

My goal in my first year of retirement is to visit every Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) branch as well as all the CML partner libraries in the metro region (a grand total of 53 libraries). When possible, I will also add library visits whenever I’m traveling out of town. For each visit, I try to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant, do some driving or walking in the neighborhood, spend some time taking photos around the library along with finding 1 or 2 book on my Amazon wish list, and finally to sit down and read for 1-2 hours before checking out the books and leaving.

This week’s library (#11) is in the Driving Park neighborhood of Columbus at the corner of Livingston & Kelton Avenues. Driving Park received its name from its historic past as a large racing complex, first for horses and later for automobiles. In 1905 it was the site of the first 24-hour auto endurance race in the U.S. Just west on Livingston from the library is the childhood home of Eddie Rickenbacker, WWI flying ace and Medal of Honor winner.

I stopped for lunch at Eddy’s Chicken and Waffles a few blocks east of the library on Livingston. The pancake breakfast was super.

Dedicated in the summer of 2014, the Driving Park Branch is one of the newer library buildings in the CML system (see article). From across the street, the striking architecture and all the glass lead the eye to the bright yellow entrance way. I was especially intrigued by the dramatic glass-walled space pointing toward the street corner.

Once inside, I discovered this wonderful space to the right of the front entrance is for children and the Ready for Kindergarten program. Just beyond that is an area devoted to Homework Help To And Through College.

Turning toward the other end of the library, I was struck by the many expanses of glass and the bright, open areas for books and computers. What an interesting library space!

I walked through the stacks and then along the windows on the street side. Down near the far end of the library I found a media area as well as several study rooms.

Walking back along the other side, I passed a Quiet Room, a long display of new books, and, on a slightly lower level, a reading area with newspapers. The third photo is looking back from a little farther down to take in all the angles and glass.

In the center of the large space are the book shelves and an abundance of computers—some in a glass-walled room and many more out in the open. These are amazing work spaces for people in the neighborhood needing to use a computer.

After walking around the library, I spent some time picking out a couple of books from my Amazon want list and then settled in to read for an hour or so in the tan chair with its back to the computer room (in the photo on the left). The photo on the right shows my view from there toward the street.

  
At some time while I was reading, two young men began a game of chess at one of the tables by the windows. I spoke with them, and they allowed me to take their picture. Then I headed to the circulation desk to check out the two books I’d found.

I recall something one of my favorite authors Ursula K. Le Guinn said in a speech celebrating the renovation of the Multnomah County Library in Portland, OR:  “A library is a focal point, a sacred place to a community; and its sacredness is its accessibility, its publicness. It’s everybody’s place.” This new building for the Driving Park Branch clearly demonstrates CML’s commitment to the Driving Park neighborhood.

Linden Branch - Columbus Metropolitan Libraries

Today (1/9) I decided to visit the Linden Branch Library on Cleveland Ave. in South Linden—a Columbus neighborhood where major redevelopment plans are in the works. I hoped to get lunch relatively close to the library, but that proved difficult.  After turning north on Cleveland Ave. at 11th—where there was a Subway and a small cafe—the next mile and a half to the library was nearly devoid of restaurants. And this continued for another mile and a half north until I started seeing national chains in the vicinity of Northern Lights Shopping Center where the neighborhood's only grocery store had closed. In a moment of nostalgia, I ended up deciding to eat at Captain D’s Seafood. I have fond memories from 7-10 years ago of picking up fish dinners there to deliver to a dear friend and retired minister colleague who lived a couple of blocks behind the shopping center. (My lunch was quite good—blackened tilapia with coleslaw, steamed broccoli, a bread stick, and a Diet Coke all for only $4.99.)

When I got back to the Linden Branch a little before 1 pm, snow flurries were falling, and the parking lot beside the library was nearly full. Before going in,I walked out to the street to take a picture of the entrance and the sidewalk ramps.

Just inside the entrance, I was greeted by this wonderful sculpture of a person reading.

Proceeding on into the library, I was struck by the bright interior—with so much light coming from high banks of windows straight ahead to the north and also on both sides.  I also noticed that the library seemed surprisingly busy for an early Wednesday afternoon, with many young people gathered together as well as a number of older people using the computers. With so many people around I took fewer photos, trying to get shots either without people or where people would not be identifiable. (In the interest of privacy, have blurred out faces when they’re present.)

Past the shelves of new arrivals, there’s a large children’s area to the right with a double row of computers set aside for kid’s use as well as shelves of children’s books.
 

Farther back in the corner to the right is a Quiet Study Area.

 
 Fiction books are shelved all along the back wall and include a separate section of African American Fiction. The non fiction shelves extend out into the room. (The second photo is a view looking back towards the library entrance and the checkout desk.)

On the way in I’d found a promising book among the new arrivals (on the left below), and now I located one of the books from my Amazon “want list” on the fiction shelves.

Books in hand, I headed back up front to one of the orange chairs near the Magazines & Newspapers to read for a  while. Below is the view from my chair.

After about an hour and a half, I realized I ought to think about getting home to do some chores and then prepare dinner. But before checking out my two new books, I just had to go back and take a closer look at the carved wall hanging in the children’s section.

 All in all, it was a most pleasant way to spend a snowy Wednesday afternoon.

Powell Branch - Delaware County District Library

I remember reading an article back in November about a library levy passing in Delaware County that would allow the construction of a new branch library in the city Powell. The current 5,000 square foot building was built in 1993, and population growth since then—from 2,100 to more than 13,500 people—has far outpaced the library’s capacity.  So I decided this morning I wanted to see this small library.

When I looked at the map of partner libraries on the Columbus Metropolitan Library website, I realized the Powell Branch was not shown and that the Delaware County system actually consisted of four branches. After counting up branches for all the partner libraries, I realized there are actually 53 different libraries for me to visit in the Columbus metro area,13 more than the 40 I’d originally thought. 

The Powell Branch library is in a lovely setting in Library Park.

This library is closer in size to the libraries I remember as a child. But I don’t recall near so many windows and so much natural light. The children’s areas to the left and straight ahead from the entrance were quite busy when I got there mid-morning. In the article about the tax levy, the library director was quoted as saying that “if there is a good-size children’s program going on (at the Powell branch), everyone’s involved in it whether you want to be or not.” And indeed the children’s excited voices carried throughout the library.

I began my visit by walking around the library taking pictures and then searching the shelves for various books on my want list. I noted special sections for juvenile fiction and a corner area for teens. (At the Powell Branch website you can do your own “Google walk” through the library.)

To the far right from the library entrance there’s an area for periodicals as well as a very nice separate room for computers that has lots of windows.

After picking out a couple of books to borrow, I settled in to read for a while at a table about as far from the busy children’s section as I could get.

Sometime before noon, everyone must have headed off to lunch, for it was suddenly “library quiet,” so I kept reading for another half hour or so.  Then I took a couple more pictures of the children’s area.

 

When I'd finished reading, I had the librarian check out my two selections.

Before leaving I stopped at the books for sale in the library entrance but didn’t find anything to buy. Then I stepped out of the library into the park to find the cloudy sky just beginning to clear.

From the library, I drove around exploring Powell and eventually decided to have lunch at Local Roots, a restaurant specializing in locally grown, locally sourced foods. The BLT on Beehive Bread Company’s Toasted Wheat Bread with a side order of Bacon Poached Brussel Sprouts provided a great topper to an excellent morning.