Our new public library

Snort!

(another snort at Beth)

George, I thought you had two sons. Sorry about the brain fart.

I will try to keep you informed about when it opens, Username.

Greenwitch - The trees are horse chesnut. The head scratching is because I don't know why they'd plant them. And in a lawn, no less.

Spendi - library books are about knowledge. Who still knows what plants are native around here? Not many non-landscape designers. Having them there is informative. Also, the new structure is informative. It's a new style of architecture designed to help us live on earth - an education in green building. And when I said I missed the library - what do you imagine I was talking about? Taking books out, of course! Seriously.

Farmerman - take some snaps of your library plans and finished building!

I've some understanding re spendius, re the depletion of books in libraries - and Nicolson re the outright destruction of the old catalog cards, which often, according to Nicolson, had precious small notes on them.

You will likely not know whom I'm talking about, this Nicolson, and I'll have to google to back myself up.


On books - when I was thirteen, new again to west LA and Santa Monica after several years absence, I was only let into the kids section. (wtf, I said, though I didn't then know the word f)

Once they let me into the regular library, I delved the shelves like a madwoman. Thus, I have some sympathy for those who want to get their hands on real books.

I've a friend who is a head librarian, and when I went to the library opening, I thought of it as deplete. A few years later, I went to the Humboldt County Library in my then home town, and saw it as deplete. On the other hand, they had a great book sale from donations.

What is that about? I got a few great books from that sale, that I could barely afford, but I can't afford much so that's no measure.

I'd much rather see the books I bought available for human hands to reach, especially when I saw all those rows of empty shelves.

What do you think The Name of the Rose is all about? Inconvenience has nothing to do with it. There was nothing pretty about the library in that.

weve been discussing whether to put all the computer in Carrolls or on community tables. (I prefer spaced out connectivity so that the entire computer banks arent just a space for loafing and game playing.

We are going to have 2 community rooms , one pof which is gonna be an art gallery , and theyre both being payed for by a series of rich benefactors.(The neat thing about small towns projects is that the folks of means want to bequeath money to git er done.

I see what you're saying about spaced out computers, but they are harder to moniter (for game playing/loafing) than if they were grouped.

Dip your bread in effemm.

It was in 1995 or 96 I believe. And I was parked legally at least according to the sign I was parked at. Ticketed for going past the 1 hour parking by 5 minutes I believe. I could be wrong. Maybe it wasn't that particular library but it sure looks so familiar. A one time jaunt to pick up a book from one of the Minuteman Network Libraries.

Hah, they are FINALLY getting ready to popen the thing. Ribbon cutting ceremony Oct. 29, and actual services start Nov. 8, and I can't wait. Still havbe only a cursory idea of what it's like, since I just drive by and they've got it kind of under wraps, but it looks HUGE. Good. Lotta books.

Re farmerman and the question of computers in carrels versus open spaces. In the old main library, the first iteration of computer access had about a dozen computers on long stand-up tables, so they were a bit below eye level when you were standing, I think three tables, each with four computers, in a solid block of tables. Nota n ideal arrangement, certainly not conducive to prolonged use--your feet gave out on the marble flkoor. And there was one kid, middle-school age probably, who was often at one computer against the wall, with a jacket over his head and the monitor. I think the general impression was that he was watching internet porn. Definitely a lot of chutzpah. The later version had sort of semi-carrels.Tables with dividers about eighteen inches or two feet high between spaces, and chairs so you could use the computers sitting--a GREAT improvement. The dividers were onl,y on the table top, so they didn't really separate things, and there was kind of competition between ample space and numbers of computers you could fit in, and number of computers generally won, which meant the space was too small to actually do much in. As I remember, you couldn't even set books or papers down flat in them, the dividers were so close to the computer edges Those seemed a little cramped to actually do much in them. I'd suggest a little more space if you go with the carrel model, farmer9 (the carrels at the Princeton U. library, incidentally, at least in the 60w, were much larger, about 6 by 6 as I remember, lockable doors, shelves over the desk for research material, you could really close yourself off from the world and work. Of course that's probably an unfeasible model for a general public library, tho).

I RSVP'd to get on the list for the opening. It's in the evening, but I'll try to take pictures.

ooh, Kris, I'm jealous. did you go? I had other stuff going on then and couldn't get there. Saw the pix the library's site has of it and it looks GREAT. You gonna go to the public opening this Sunday, 2-5 pm? My first order of business is to find out where they put the SF section. WHAT DID THEY DO WITH THE HUGE JAPANESE LANTERN ON THE LAWN THAT KYOTO GAVE TO US?

Hey! I didn't go. I'm lame. I will try for Sunday, but I want to be hiking that day. It'll be open soon enough for regular business. The lantern is still there - by the new playground and parking garage entrance.

Good. I love that lantern. They have a parking garage too? Holy moley. But the lawn looks really a bit barren--I think they really need to transplant some big old trees.

Agreed about the lawn, but people like them for their own reasons.

Yeah, it sure is a prime sunbathing location (tho not so much in November).

Tired but bookmarking.

Heh, I used to like those.

Anecdotally, my ex wrote a screenplay based on books he nabbed re the tiny Marina del Rey county library, one from the mid eighteen hundreds. The library got the key book from Ohio.

Sorry, that was a late reply.


Good wishes for the library.

It's open and it's great, light filled, lotsa space to expand, squashy chairs that look out on the lawn, high ceilings (farmerman will hate that), ;probably a hundred computers, some at standing height tables, most at long tables, a few at circular stations, four or five around a core which probably contains the server), with chest-high partitions between them--the only semi-private ones, a dozen or so just for kids at the circular things, a small brass ensemble on opening day--great red "Cambridge Public Library" tote bags for a buck to haul your swag home. Tables where you can eat lunch, meeting rooms. A reevamped reading room with heavy old oak tables and brass reading lamps in the Victorian part of it, kinda like what I remember of the NY Public Library. Over the last week I've ended up with 18 books and 5 CDs checked out. RFIDs in each book, so all they have to do to check them out is set them on a plate and it reads all the codes (tho it doesn't work all that well yet)