101. Hennepin County, Pierre Bouttineau

A very unusual building; I would pair it with St. Bonifacius for the "unusual architecture" and "not what I expected" awards. I talked to staff quite a bit here, but somehow didn't ask much about the building's history--or anything at all about Pierre B. I know you have the blog address--come on in and give some details, please! One woman on the staff was very helpful when I tried to use a computer to find the information to solve my camera problem. The other comes to Shoreview library sometimes, and we think we sort of recognized each other.

I really like the long row of easy chairs by the windows; I think RCL and SV should have a look at these nice chairs. There are some classic-looking metalwork signs marking different areas of the library, and special metal frames for signs on the ends of shelves.

The Children's Book Illustrator's Guild of Minnesota has a display in the children's area through September. This area included a very nice "two chairs, a table, a lamp" for reading to kids, just like home. There's a wonderful large window on the end wall, up high, and a desk for a children's librarian. A long row of low coat hooks shows that the site is ready for plenty of kids to show up for cold-weather programs.

8/22/12

Note that I don't as a rule take pictures inside; the fourth picture here was taken inside, but looking out, to see if the camera problem had been solved. Fortunately, it had.