The Athenaeum of Ohio

This library is literally around the corner from my house. It is the Eugene H. Maly Memorial Library and supports the Mount St. Mary's Seminary. The seminary itself is a division of the Athenaeum of Ohio, the graduate school of theology sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Any patron of a SWON (Southwest Ohio and Neighboring Libraries) library is allowed to borrow materials.

The website can be accessed here >>> http://www.athenaeum.edu/library/

Dekalb County, Georgia

 The Northlake Branch of the Dekalb County Public Library (DCPL), also known as the Northlake-Barbara Loar Library, is one of the over 20 branches of this suburban public library system, and one that I frequented during my residence in Georgia. The library was named after a former library director who served during the 1980s.

The main branch of DCPL is located in downtown Decatur, which I will blog about in the future!

Originally constructed in 1991, the exterior shot is how it looked when I first visited in 2005, but the interior photos were taken after the 2008-09 renovations were completed, increasing its size from 10,000 to 15,000 square feet.

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

The Lower Providence Community Library in Eagleville, Pennsylvania was actually my local library during my brief residence in Southeastern PA. Of course, the first thing I did when I moved there was get a library card! Despite being located in Montgomery County, it was not part of a consortium, although with an "Access Pennsylvania" sticker on your card, all libraries in the state (not just the county) were accessible. I haven't run across this feature in any other state yet and am wondering if this is something perhaps unique to Pennsylvania. It certainly is convenient when you think I could travel clear across the state on vacation and check out items during my stay. Of course, when you consider that I would be receiving the same services of local patrons whose taxes pay for their home library, it does raise some questions. Nevertheless, those same patrons would be able to utilize my local library so perhaps it all comes out in the wash!!!

A library in the land of dueling banjos!

Up until now I've given pretty much favorable reviews of almost all of the libraries I've been to. Then came my visit to Cleveland, Georgia! Later that same day when I visited the library in the fake alpine town of Helen, I stopped by the only other, and main, branch of the White County Public Library, which in turn is part of the consortium called the Northeast Georgia Regional Library System. A member of PINES, these libraries simply do not get sufficient funding and therein lies the paradox - libraries in areas with high average household incomes get the most funding despite the fact that residents do not rely heavily on library resources and are in a much better financial situation to purchase their own books, music, movies, etc. Libraries in poorer areas such as rural Georgia get much less funding and here citizens are much less likely to afford to buy their own material and rely on the public library for borrowing privileges.

All I remember from this visit is a drab building, especially on the inside. Dark, musty and the collection in virtually disarray. No one acknowledged my presence and I didn't stick around very long. Now this was more than six years ago, so perhaps there's been a renovation or other changes made. I for one certainly hope so!

A Library in the Deep South!

Huntsville, Alabama is anything but your quintessential southern town and this picture of the main branch located in Madison County is also not a normal occurrence. At least it didn't look this way when I visited back in August of 2007!

With a dozen branches, the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library's main branch was completed in 1987 and contains over 530,000 volumes.

This video gives a good overview of the history of the library.

Nutre tu intelecto y tu espiritu!

That's the slogan of the Dorado Community Library, a public library about 20 miles outside of San Juan, Puerto Rico which I was able to visit earlier this month. It has actually been around for 34 years and for a community this size not bad at all, and definitely one of the better libraries in all of the Caribbean. The library has over 30,000 volumes in Spanish and English, a computer lab with internet access (non-card holders must pay a fee), a meeting room and it offers various programs for both children and adults.

~~~ Henrietta Hankin ~~~

Located in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania and part of the Chester County Library System outside of Philadelphia, this was the first library position I had applied for and the first job that I had ever received a rejection letter! In the fall of 2004 I interviewed for the circulation assistant opening, but luckily things did work out just weeks later when I was offered positions at two other branches within the same system.

One of the prettiest branches of CCLS, I wouldn't have minded calling this home!

Wo zum Teufel ist Freising?!

Where is Freising you ask? Freising is located in southern Bavaria and during the Middle Ages was one of the most important cities in Germany (or as it was then known, the Holy Roman Empire). The public library in Freising (Stadtbibliothek Freising) was founded in 1959 and was first located in the old city hall. When I first started frequenting the library in 1988 during my studies in Munich, it had already been located in the Marcushaus at Marienplatz for the past 15 years. Sadly, I failed to take any pictures when I was there but I did find some on their website including some in black & white which could possibly even be from the 70's!




In November of 1991, the library reopened in Praetnerhaus located on Obere Hauptstrasse. Amazingly I didn't get to Bavaria at all during the 90's, so I didn't get here until the summer of 2000. There was considerably more room at this location compared to the Marcushaus location, but of course we librarians know that doesn't last long! Again, here are some pictures from the website as I was too lazy to take my own!


The present library resides on Weizengasse since 2006 but because I haven't been there yet, no pictures! Guess what I'll be doing next time I'm in Freising!

Going Green at Hamilton Mill

One of Library Journal's (no, not this blog but the actual journal!) top 10 finalists for new landmark libraries in 2011, Hamilton Mill is part of the Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL) in Georgia and opened its doors in the spring of 2010. I was lucky enough to pay it a visit just weeks after it opened and just weeks before I left GCPL. This environmentally-friendly building and some of its innovative designs can be read in the full article here.





RFID self-checkout with the ability to pay your fines!

My new workplace...

Well, it's been six months now at my new job so I figure it's about time I post about it!

Ohio used to be the benchmark for public libraries in America, but that started to change during the 90s with decreased funding. However, this was nothing compared to the crash in 2008 when libraries across the country found themselves reeling.

This is the Union Township Branch of the 10-branch public library system of Clermont County. Compared to the neighboring county of Hamilton, which includes Cincinnati, Clermont doesn't have anywhere near the amount of resources or money for programming, but being a patron of Hamilton I can say that Clermont has one clear advantage and that is customer service. Not that Hamilton provides bad service, but comparatively Clermont staff is more attentive and personable. Union Township is slated to move towards the end of the year in proximity of the East Gate Mall and is poised to take over the #1 spot in highest circulation in the county.

As the adult services librarian, the reference desk is my domain!

Partial view of the DVD collection. A decent sized collection with a good mix of current movies and classics, vintage TV shows and various nonfiction titles.

To think I gave up my own office for a desk in a cubicle! But hey, this is a great place to work and I'm glad Clermont called me!

Memories of Munich!

I first started frequenting this library in 1988 during my year studying at the University in Munich. Otherwise known as die Zentralbibliothek des Münchner Bibliothekssytems, it opened in 1984 and during the time I was a patron, it was the most impressive library I had used. In addition to a vast audio/visual collection, I had an awesome laminated library card complete with a scanable barcode, something that wasn't commonplace in the states until the 90s!


Unfortunately I did not take any photos back in the day, but I did manage to find some recent ones on the web.

It's Parrot Time!

This is the Delhi Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, just one of forty branches in this system. It is one of the busiest library systems in the country serving a population of 500,000 or more and has one of the ten largest collections in the U.S. with over 9 million items!

This past weekend I attended my first library program in probably a decade. Three members of the Greater Cincinnati Bird Club gave a presentation featuring three of our feathered friends: a macaw, a cockatoo and an African Grey parrot. The program itself was held in the main part of the library and turned out to be a big hit with a final count of 76 people. After a brief introduction by the reference librarian who arranged the event, each member of the bird club talked about one of the parrots and offered advice for those interested in purchasing a bird as a pet and tips on maintenance.