If you want a warm and inviting atmosphere (especially on a cold and rainy day like this day was), stop by the J.A. Davis Library, which serves Rio Grande Community College and the University of Rio Grande.  This library is spacious and lovely, filled with beautiful wood accents that give the aura of an “old world” library.  The library has three floors and the view from the upper floors is quite beautiful, even on a rainy winter day.  The ground floor houses the director, Dave Mauer’s office,  student computers, technical services (in which Technical Services Specialist Greg was hard at work cataloging materials and Betty Jean, Acquisitions Specialist, who is retiring this month, was wrapping up her last few days at the library), compact storage, bound periodicals and some quiet rooms for audio/visual viewing.  On the main floor you will find the circulation desk with Deb and Gretchen ready to help with a smile, government documents (I am sorry that I wasn’t able to meet Amy Miller who is the Documents Specialist) microfilms, reference, and the reference desk featuring reference librarians Tim and Amy ready to help students.  The top floor holds the rest of the book collection.  Davis Library houses and impressive collection of over 100,000 titles.   Wireless access is available throughout the library for students and seating is abundant.  The ground floor has very unique library carrels which allow students plenty of elbow room to spread out a laptop and papers.

Dave, I really appreciate the time you took out of your busy schedule to give me a tour (did I mention I visited on the last day of classes for the semester?)  I am VERY impressed with this library!  It is beautiful, well organized, notable in size and your staff is top notch! 

Check out my slide show for a few pictures of the library, but if you really want to see some better pictures of how it looks, go to the library web site and check out their virtual tour.

Yesterday I made the lovely drive to the Ohio river town of Pomeroy to visit the main branch of the Meigs County District Public Library (MCDPL).  MCDPL has four locations and the main branch is located right across the river (there is a great view from the newer section of the library).  Kristi, thank you so much for spending a lot of time talking library talk and giving me a tour of your library and introducing me to everyone.  You and your staff really made me feel at home.

The library building itself was originally a bank with an addition built after it was converted to a library.  It has been modified beautifully- everything is neat and easily accessible and has been cleverly adjusted from its prior use (the video room was a sun room!- I will let the reader’s guess how the former vault area is utilized ).  Chairs and tables are placed nicely throughout the library to provide reading nooks.  On the upper level you will find the circulation desk, the collection, the genealogy area and patron computers.  On the lower level is an impressive area with several meeting rooms, a state of the art computer lab, a kitchen and even a separate entrance to help the meeting room traffic flow.  Staff and a volunteer were busy getting ready for one of the big annual family craft nights- the decorating of Gingerbread Houses (thank you to Emily for providing pictures of this event and game night to include this blog).  100 houses were pre-assembled for decorating.  About eighty people attended and 50 houses were decorated (the bad weather forecast made attendance lower than normal).

The Racine branch held the first Game night last Friday, November 30 from 4-6.  It was a huge success!  31 kids took turns playing at two stations Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution.  The Friends of the Library provided pizza.  Judging from the pictures alone, the kids had a great time.  Game events are becoming a popular program at public libraries.  (If your library has hosted a gaming event, please post a comment on this blog and tell us about it!)

If you are in Pomeroy, stop by the library- you can’t miss it.  Just drive down 33 and look for the new beautiful sign with its electronic billboard!

I visited the Nelsonville branch of the Athens County Public Library (ACPL) on the Monday before Thanksgiving.  Although one of the library renovations gave this library a sleek modern look on the outside, the white wooden rockers on the main entrance portico make you feel like you are visiting a favorite and welcoming relative.  This feeling continued on as I was greeted by staff behind the beautiful circulation desk and welcomed by director Lauren Miller.  Lauren is a sweet and dynamic lady, working hard to make her library system a great place to be.  ACPL took on a new look and name in August of this year.  I love their new logo!  Isn’t it a great spin on the traditional library sign?

Their web site also received a new look.  It is very sleek (great job Owen!) and easy to use.  Each branch has their own tab.  Check it out at www.myacpl.org

If you don’t know, ACPL gave libraries in the US a grand leap into the world of open source software.  When researching for a new integrated library system, they decided to hire a programmer to update the open-source software Koha to make it compatible with Marc records.  This innovation has provided ACPL with a cutting edge catalog.  They just upgraded to a newer version of Koha and the search feature is very enhanced.  The results list are very “amazon-like”.

Well, I am digressing into technology, which is easy for me to do!  Back to my visit.  Lauren gave me the full tour!  The Nelsonville branch is well organized in all areas (both patron and staff).  There was a visiting school when I was there and branch manager Sandy McConnel and staff were busy with lively and bright second graders.  About a year ago, the moved their children’s department to the front of the building where kids can enjoy the bright light and check out all of the activity going on outside. 

Thank Lauren and staff for a great tour and fun visit!  Please stop by and visit them sometime!

First of all, I want to thank dynamic director Jennifer Thompson for taking time out of her extremely busy schedule to meet with me, discuss library issues and give me a thorough tour of the Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library (C&RPL).  This library system has the main branch, a Carnegie library on Paint St. in Chillicothe, and 6 branches located in strategic places throughout Ross County.  I visited the main branch, which has gone through several innovative remodels during the 20th century.  The last remodel opened up the library stacks yet still maintained the original feeling of the Carnegie architecture.  I love the atmosphere in this library! 
The biggest issue at hand when I visited the library was the Nov. 6th election.  The library had a levy on the ballot, whose funds were to be used to expand the very crowded main library, connect it to the old central school the library had purchased and create more room for staff and patrons, including large meeting rooms.  I am truly sorry to report that the levy didn’t pass.

Jennifer brought up some other interesting issues that are facing libraries.  Baby boomer library staff is retiring, and this is creating a new era in library management and staffing.  C&RCPL has recently gained four new managers in the last six months because of retirement.  New young management staff brings transition due to this cultural change and brings about new bonds and perspectives.  It also brings to the forefront the need for substantial workshops aimed at new library managers.  Another issue she noted is the need for library management to partner with each other and with OLC to do political lobbying on behalf of libraries.  I think this is a great idea!  I encourage everyone who is reading this to comment on their experience or opinions on the issues that Jennifer has raised.

I spent many days researching, working on papers (and yes, hanging out) at the Quinn Library at OUC while earning my undergraduate degree (more years ago than I am going to confess here!) Times have changed, even since my last visit to the library several years ago.  When you first walk into the Stevenson Center where the library is located, you will find the Learning Commons, a place that hosts an information desk as well as lots of computers arranged to look like an Internet cafe.  Wireless access is also available in the Learning commons as well as throughout the library (the library has awesome new “laptop furniture- check out the pictures).  Before the entrance to the library is the art gallery, a place where art students can showcase.  The current art display, “Heteromorphic Materialization” by Kate Fyffee is refreshing to the eye and worth an extra trip to the library to check out.

Head librarian (and a former classmate) Dr. Allan L. Pollchik gave me a quick tour of the library and its newest features.  One thing I would like to highlight is the library’s nationally recognized special collection on religious tolerance.  This collection contains first editions of books like John Locke’s Letters Concerning Toleration published in 1765 as well as Voltaire’s A Treatise on Toleration (1779) and Letters Concerning the English Nation (1733).  Check out some awesome photographs by Andy Gigley available on the special collection link above.

Thank you for the tour Allan, it was fun and it was nice to meet your friendly and professional staff!

I had a “spooktacular” visit to the Oak Hill Public Library (OHPL)!   The Library Teen (KEY) Advisory Board had just held their annual Harvest Party the night before my visit.  The Harvest Party features scary stories, a skit, songs, jokes as well as a haunted tour of the library.  The library was decorated “to the hilt”!  Director Peggy Johnson coordinates the event-filled calendar at OHPL.  The Saturday prior, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Lester V. Horwitz visited the library to talk about Morgan’s Raid.  Horwitz’s book, The Longest Raid of the Civil War was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in History.

This library is very new, built in 2004.  Peggy gave me the nitty gritty tour- from the beautiful public area to the spacious technical room, which at the time of my visit was converted to a very spooky haunted house!  What a gorgeous building!  I would love nothing better than to sit down in the reading area beside the floor to cathedral ceiling windows and read a magazine article or book!  Thank you to the director and staff of the OHPL for a great visit!

The weather cleared and made way for a beautiful day for my visit to the Jackson City Library (JCL).  Meeting with director Laura Thorne is always fun- we love to pick on each other and conduct conversations at warp speed.  JCL has been quite busy!  September in Jackson brings the Jackson County Apple Festival and for the library, the Apple Festival Quilt Show.  Over 500 people (yes, 500!) wandered in the library over a four day period to view the beautiful quilts displayed in the Potter meeting room.  Laura also informed me that JCL now offers wireless access.  This has been a very popular service utilized by library patrons.  A generous grant has allowed the library to also venture into the world of Playaway audio books.  (As a audio book enthusiast, I am anxious to try one!)  JCL is also starting an evening Family Storytime.  Family storytime will include books, games, crafts and snacks for the whole family. What a great idea!  As a working mom, I miss out on taking my toddler to storytime.  This is a great opportunity for today’s busy families to experience storytime at the library.  Check out the pictures I took of the library.  Can you see the moon above the library?  I really like the teen corner they have created.  Laura and staff have done a terrific job of dividing a big open space into defined zones for patrons.