On beyond MELSA

I had so much fun visiting MELSA branches, I've decided not to stop. Anyway, these visits seem to be somewhat addictive, and they do prevent me from cleaning the house.

From this point, posts might be from any library at all, but I'm starting with visits to one branch in the MORE group, 50 libraries across the river in Wisconsin, and two in the Great River Regional Library System, which covers Todd, Morrison, Benton, Sherburne, Wright, and Stearns counties in Minnesota.

I received a tip from someone at the Stillwater library that the Verona, Wisconsin library is not to be missed. I have a little favorite in upstate New York, and a friend says I must come back to the library in Siskiyou in California. My sister Jean wants me to see the Hollis, NH, library. I need to get pictures of the library I worked at when I was in high school, and I'd like to visit the libraries where my Aunt Ruth McEvoy worked in the 30s (Brooklyn, NY) and later (Batavia, NY). So please keep coming back to see where I've been. Make comments. Leave suggestions!

But Labor Day is almost here, and with Labor Day come classes at the U of MN and reading to classes at the local elementary school; and of course, I still have my parttime library job. New entries will probably come in little bursts.

Visiting far-flung branches

 I visited the next group of libraries on 6/23/2012. No public transportation worked out; these far-suburban locations are often served by commuter buses, in-town in the morning, back out in the late afternoon. So for far-flung sites, I used Mapquest to plan a more-or-less circular route. With the sequence determined, I put the addresses in my GPS and set out. This sounds a bit cumbersome, but it worked well.

I used the same system for libraries in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, and Scott counties, when bus service was not available. There may have been a couple of cases when I could have taken the bus but chose to drive, but they were rare.

Getting started

"start here"

There is a sign at the library where I work that says my St. Paul library card can be used at more than 100 sites. These are the various branches in the Metropolitan Library Services Association of Minnesota, which includes libraries in St. Paul and seven counties: Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington. I decided to spend the summer of 2012 visiting each branch.

I created these ground rules for myself:

* Visit in person, while the library is open
* Take a picture of the exterior
* Explore the interior, taking notes of things I especially like (and, rarely, dislike)
* Register my card, if I am in a county where it is not already registered
* Take out at least one book
* Use public transportation (bus and light rail) whenever possible

Sometimes I chatted with staff, sometimes not. This depended on availability, my inclination at the time, and how soon I needed to catch a bus.

I've been posting the pictures and comments on Facebook, but friends have convinced me to switch to a blog.

So I'm going to try it.