398 Wawa, ON Public Library

I think there is probably an unwritten law (it might even be written!) that anything about Wawa, Ontario, must include The Goose, so here it is, at the visitor center. The goose was easy, but the library, through my own error, was a bit of a problem. Somehow I managed to put in my itinerary that the library would open at 10:30 on Wednesday. Nope, I should have written 11:30. Now what? I had three libraries on my list for the afternoon...

With less than an hour to wait, I decided to stick around and perhaps eliminate one of my planned stops for later in the day. I spent a bit of time outside the library, using its wifi to catch up with some email. Fueling the car and getting a cookie from Tim Horton filled the rest of the hour. And once I was inside, I was glad I had waited.

It's a very visual library, and I took many more pictures than usual. I always take exterior pictures to showcase special touches like this friendly bench.

This is one view of the children's area, obviously. There are two computers for kids, each with a brightly colored chair. The nearer chair is shaped like a hand with the fingers facing up. And you see that staircase? Well...

...it leads to a balcony that at this time housed the book sale. I understand that these books will be moved down, perhaps quite soon.

And here's a small table with a Noah's Ark theme. Do you see that dark circle in the middle of the picture of the ark? 

Well, that circle is a finger hole, allowing one to rmove the lid on a cache of crayons. Go back to the last picture and you'll see a rack of coloring papers waiting for kids to arrive.

I've visited quite a few Canadian libraries, at least 16 at last count. In both the US and Canada, I've seen colorful rugs in children's areas. I've seen alphabets, Dewey Decimal schemes, numbers, ponds... but this is the first Canadian map rug I've seen.

And the very plain back door, with the NO EXIT sign in the middle, is brightened with book jacket art.

One school is a block away, and I learned that there are two others. After school, the library is filled with kids who stop by to do art projects. Among other things, they have made small clay sculptures of all sorts, and some of them are for sale. I bought a really nice leafy plant in a white planter for my dollhouse, an when I get home in a few days I intend to take a picture of this miniature plant in its new home. Check back in a week or so to see if I remember!

And I DID remember!

Yes, there are books, media, and computers for adults, too!

5/18/2016

http://www.mtpl.on.ca/