Chattanooga Choo Choo!

Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library


From Gatlinburg in 2008 to Chattanooga just a few days ago. Obviously a much larger library, three floors to be exact, but the building itself was drab and unimpressive. To make it even worse, it had one of these dreadful metal sculptures out front presumably left over from scraps from its construction. But what saved the experience for me was when I stumbled across a card catalog in all its glory. Of course, the catalog is online, but talk about a conversation piece!

The collection was dated and thumbing through the travel section, I wondered if they weeded at all, but it was exactly for this reason that I wished all libraries would have space for older titles. Travel classics that I had to ILL, such as Aku Aku and An African in Greenland were right there on the shelves! But perusing the AV section was satisifying as well. Nonfiction DVDs were in good supply, but unfortunately it did appear they were charging for movies, a practice I cannot say I'm in favor of.

Despite being visually unappealing, I wouldn't mind at all being a patron of this library...

Gatlinburg, TN

On the fringe of the Great Smokey Mountains and very near the infamous Dollywood stands the town of Gatlinburg. Yes, this place is as tacky as you have heard, but otherwise it is a quite clean and orderly place.
The public library was nothing spectacular, but I must admit, there was a certain charm to it. It is the Anna Porter Public Library and its website can be accessed here.

Welcome to Snellville!

This was my second library job and first arriving in Georgia in 2005. A branch of the Gwinnett County Library System and also known as the Elizabeth H. Williams Branch, I worked here for nearly three years as a library associate. Great staff, great times, this library will always hold special memories. These photos were taken in the spring of 2006.

A Librarian's Dream Job

Alright, for those individuals who get seasick at the mere mention of boarding a boat, this certainly is not for you! But for the rest of us...in charge of a library on a luxury cruise ship? Are you kidding me? Where do I sign? Oh, and I even get paid to do this?! :)


These pictures were taken aboard the Westerdam of the Holland-America Line on our most recent cruise to Mexico. So far, this is by far and away the most impressive library I have seen on the high seas. Only a trip on the Queen Mary 2 would top this! And like the Cunard line, Holland-America is the only other cruise line which actually employs librarians to oversee the library. These individuals usually sign 3-6 month contracts and as attractive as the job may sound it is nevertheless extremely demanding as there are simply no days off. As soon as the ship comes into port and the guests leave, on steps a few thousand new guests!

I've been to Helen and back!!!

Summer is here again and that means more visits to libraries. Yes, when I go on vacation I always make it a point to stop at the local library. I'm always curious how other libraries stack up against the ones I've worked at or used and how they operate. Today's stop is in the infamous town of Helen, GA. Maybe infamous is a bit harsh since this town is much nicer than any other surrounding it for at least 100 miles, but it is fake. Back in the 60's it was decided to turn this town into an Alpine village and make it a tourist destination. Driving in rural Georgia and suddenly arriving at what looks like Bavaria is quite a surreal experience. I was there shortly before Christmas in 2005 and it really did look pretty, but again, I might as well have been in Vegas. At least the library's architecture was in tune with the rest of the village. Helen's library is a branch of the Northeast Georgia Regional Library System.