47. Carver County, Victoria Express

This express is in a rec center that is open 5:30 am to 9 pm five days a week and 6 am to 8 pm on weekends. Not quite the 24/7 of the Newport express (and some others), but pretty good. This time, the correct book was waiting for me. It's nice that they have a computer on hand for looking up items and placing requests. You can just see the book return to the left, and beyond that a rack of "borrow and return" paperbacks.

7/18/12, car

45. Carver County, Watertown

The first thing I spotted was a "living room" to the right of the entrance, with a fuzzy cat (stuffed animal) on the windowsill. Very inviting. Bright triangular banners designated specific areas, like "Audio Books" and "Videos." There was a neat wooden mosaic of an electric train on one wall; I should have asked about it, but didn't. The kids' area had chairs with animal shapes and an IKEA "nature" rug just like mine on the floor. As I left, I realized that there is a second "living room" on the other side of the entrace, this one at least partly for teens.

7/18/12, car

24. Carver County, Chanhassen

Librarians' info desk is low, with chairs for patrons--it looks like a bank! Free coffee in lobby; lots of study rooms and a couple of conference rooms, all in use at 10:30 on a summer weekday morning. Reading room full of natural light and easy chairs.

There's a small parking garage on the left; it was full, so I parked at the grocery store across the street.

7/5/2012, car

23. Carver County, Chaska Library

The courtesy phone in the lobby is a nice touch; those of us (there are still a few) who don't always have a cell phone available would find these useful--if we had change! I liked a sign that says "polite cell phone use permitted." I wonder if that message works better than "Silence ringtones, take extended conversations to the lobby"? Fireplace, study table, chairs, have classic look that resembles Chanhassen. Same era? A good idea: baskets for patrons to leave gently-used periodicals for others to take.

7/5/2012, car

22. Carver County, Cologne Express

This was my first experience of "Express" branches. A bookdrop outside and this "pick up" spot in the lobby of the city hall provide service to a sparsely populated area. It appeared to be available 24/7/365. I'll soon pick up a request at a different express library and will say more about them then.
7/5/2012, car

21. Carver County, Norwood Young America

Looks can be deceiving; this turned out to be a very large space with a decent collection, at least so it seemed on a superficial look. I enjoyed talking to a staff person here. As in Waconia, it shares the building with apartments. A picture from the other side of the building would have been more flattering!

I arrived too early and "had to" go to Dairy Queen!

7/5/2012, car

20. Carver County, Waconia Library

Waconia library shares a building with the city hall, and there are apartments above; seems like a great use of space.

Big area for kids, somewhat plain but with lots of program space. In the adult area, I liked the notebook of "recommendations from your neighbors"--short book reviews from patrons age 17 and above. (Let's get someone from Waconia in here to say why I'm wrong to call the kids' area "plain.")

7/5/12, car