It feels a little out of place to begin branching off into reviews of places like public libraries and other non-food based locales. But this new downtown library fills me with the sort of warmth and goodwill that inspires a positive review to anyone who will listen to me preach from my digital soapbox. Plus, there's a cafe inside now so... let's just pretend it's a very large internet cafe with a huge book shelf. A few days after it's grand re-opening, I stopped in to gawk and be happy that my library was open again. A friendly greeter announced that I should make sure to check out the children's section downstairs. Good call. Bright, airy, and huge, the children's level on the lower floor is gorgeous. It's filled with crawl-in book nooks, padded climb-on-me furnishings, private study rooms, play mats, mini-castles, game areas, age-based sections, audio/video stations with iPads around the edges, and who knows what else. I felt like a creeper wandering childless and alone in my 30's in this area, gawping at the selection and wondering if anyone would judge me if I curled up in the padded nook below the stairs. So I didn't stay long down there, but every time I am there I peek in, wishing I were tiny again. I also couldn't bring myself to wander into the "Teen Zone" on the first floor. It looks like they have a sheltered TV/Movies lounge in there, along with of course an age-appropriate selection of books and so on. Past the forbidden Teen Zone and tucked into a back corner is an amazing AV / Computer / Media Lab. It's stocked with a sound proofed recording box, photoshop, video editing tools, and everything else I wish I could afford on my home PC and waitress wages. Lets not forget, of course, the main attraction. Books! Books everywhere! Bright and individually lit shelves make browsing easy. Tidy and well organized, I always seem to find myself inexplicably in a section far away from my point of origin with no idea how I arrived there. The fairy-lights must have led me from shelf to shelf, beckoning me with well-displayed arrays of beautiful, beautiful books. There is a newly improved selection of comics, mangas, graphic novels and other assorted art-related narratives. A very respectable movie rentals section. Foreign films arranged by language? Hooray! Non-fiction stacks so immaculately designed and well kept that I never fear that the one book I need will be unlocatable amidst the chaos of the dingy, ramshackle stacks of yore. (Which I still love, because.... because books! Oh the smell of old, stale unarranged books...) The staff are always friendly and helpful, there's always an open computer in the main area, the self-checkout seems to work perfectly, and my reserved books are always waiting for me on the holds shelves, like old friends who know where I'll be, because I can't stay away. Oh yea, and there's a little cafe in there now.
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positive