LIBRARIES

I’ve always loved using public libraries but thought we’d have to give them up when we sold our Springfield home to travel full time.   But we’ve been pleasantly surprised to get a visitors card in several of the places where we’ve stayed a few months.  You’d kind of think that people who could pull up their house and leave at any time would be poor risks for borrowing books, but instead we have found that Winter visitors are welcome to take out a card. There's a small fee ($8 to $10 so far) and all they ask is an RV Park address and our cell phone number.

It’s great to save money by not having to buy books for a few months.  But besides that, I like the ambience of a library.  I like to look at books and imagine having time to read them all.   

When we visited my sister and brother-in-law in Seattle recently, we toured  the amazing Seattle Central Library which opened in 2004.  The architect was Rem Koolhaas.  The print guide to the library is called "Cool House", so now we won't forget the name of that architect. 

I wondered if a building this massive and modern would even feel like a library.  It really does because there are lots of small and friendly spaces within the big one.    Although the map room alone (for example) is as big as some of the small libraries we’ve used, the whole building has been designed for readers.  There’s a café inside, a large but cozy reading area called the living room, and tables and chairs in every section. 

We learned that Koolhaus chose the art work and furniture as part of the design.  The different levels are built as ramps, similar to a parking garage, with the shelves arranged crosswise and leveled.  The Dewey Decimal System numbers are incorporated into large blocks on the floor, so it is easy to find the section you want.  My sister found a book of Kentucky history that mentioned one of our great-uncles.  (He fought a duel over politics – but apparently both parties were poor shots and nobody was hurt!)

The whole library is e-wired and there are tons of computers everywhere for public use. 

This is a view from a top floor window.  You can see the Amtrak Station Tower. 

The library was only a small part of our most excellent personally led tour of the wonders of downtown Seattle.  Our guides had to go back to work on Monday.  It was raining and we had some time before our train so we hung out there for a while reading magazines, drinking lattes and exploring the stacks.   If I lived in Seattle I’d be there a couple of times a week.  Maybe more often during the rainy season!

But while we’ve stayed on the lake this summer, Cyndi and Jeff have let us piggyback onto their family card at the Fern Ridge Library here in Veneta (pictured at left).    It’s considerably smaller, but there are, after all, considerably fewer people here than in Seattle.   We have borrowed great books and the staff is so friendly.  No lattes though!    This library also gets a lot of use – when I stopped by one afternoon the school bus let about ten high school kids out right in front of the building.  Before I left, they were on the computers doing their homework or quietly searching the stacks.  I love that libraries are a welcoming place for every age. 

No matter what size it is, a library is a great community resource and I am always happy when we get to use one again.