A little while ago I wrote a post about needing to find a wider range of authors of my favourite genre, crime fiction. The problem being that my favourite authors were becoming harder to find on the shelves of the local libraries...in other words these books were too popular and were always 'out', lent to other library patrons. I got some excellent suggestions from readers of that post and have been lucky enough to find some of these authors' books already.
But instead of the magazine shelves, there is a meeting room!
To the right of those shelves of books there is now a rather swish seating area. The meeting room used to be in the left hand corner of this area...
Where the shelves of books used to be is now a workroom and a large colourful children's area...and the Non Fiction books' area.
And yes, that orange coloured structure is a little coffee shop...
And of course DH and I tried the coffee; it was quite good!
There was a large area of the library where computers were set up for the use of patrons. But I didn't think to take a photo; it was a well used area of the library.
So after the visit to the Grange Library, I felt that my local library is a bit of a 'Cinderella' of libraries. But perhaps it's on the list for a refurbishment some time in the future??? I can, but hope! :-)
These books are written by 2 'new writers' ( to me!) recommended by Barbara and Lin. I enjoyed both immensely!
And so it was that a few weeks ago I decided to check out a council library near the suburb where I lived previously. It had been the library where I would take my children when they were young. Since moving suburbs 15 years ago, I have rarely visited the Grange Library. The last time would have been 5 years ago when DH ran a training session for Census collectors in the meeting room. So it really shouldn't have been a surprise that the library had changed somewhat...a complete 'refurb'!
The front door is still in the same place...
Where the long Check in/Check out desk and Library Staff work area had been, is now filled with all these shelves...
And to the left of all those shelves, there are booths...and nicely upholstered chairs...
And then there is outside...my stack of books that I've borrowed.
So after the visit to the Grange Library, I felt that my local library is a bit of a 'Cinderella' of libraries. But perhaps it's on the list for a refurbishment some time in the future??? I can, but hope! :-)
7 comments:
What a super duper library that is Maria! Glad you enjoyed the book. xx
Lovely colours in the library, a pleasant place to spend time....our local library is drab, old and smells musty! Wish I could see the titles of the books you borrowed, I love crime and psychological thrillers, and my latest finds are Michael Robotham, and Kate Rhodes. I was lucky enough to find Robotham's latest on the returns trolley yesterday, usually I have to request them and there's quite a wait. So...not much stitching and crocheting now you have that lot to read *big grin*
Love love love those chairs and reading areas. Looks like q great meeting place
looks a lovely place to browse, our libraries seem to be smaller for books and the areas are taken over by computers, even the book cases are smaller, never mind there are still plenty of books I have not read! Have you read any of Peter Robinson`s books, they are crime set in Yorkshire and a very good read, they have also made some of them into tv series.
Maria I think we are so lucky with our libraries in Brisbane and I'll definitely give Grange a visit after your interesting post. My local is New Farm library and I've been to a number of interesting workshops put on there by Brisbane City Council. Especially the gardening ones by Annette McFarlane.
May I suggest an interesting crime fiction book I'm reading at the moment from New Farm library. It's called "The Cuckoo's Calling" and it's written by .. wait for it ….J.K.Rowling but she is writing as Robert Galbraith. As often happens with this old brain, I realised once I had got into it a few pages that I had read it before that didn't matter because I couldn't remember 'who dun it' anyway !
I've never seen a coffee shop associated with a library!
The only "updating" that happened at our local library over the last 18 years was when they got new carpet after being flooded, and when they removed the checkout desk and put in terminals where you scan the barcode and check out the item yourself. Like a self-service supermarket terminal. Not sure that made the library more user-friendly. Comfy chairs and coffee would have been much nicer!
That's a spectacular library. I wish there were a library here with comfortable seating and a place to buy some hot chocolate. =) By the way, I LOVE J. A. Jance - all her series. I grew up in Southern Arizona, so that series is my favorite, but I'm almost as fond of Beaumont, and I'm getting that way about Reynolds.
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