126. Great River, Staples

The library shares space with other municipal offices. The first thing I noticed here was the cool bike rack (see picture), which is surpassed only by the racks at the Mother Ship in St. Cloud. Once I got inside, I was captivated by a large, three-panel fabric mural. It's hard to describe; it's not a quilt, but it uses fabric to give the impression of the farmland I'd been driving through all day. You'll just have to go see it!

There are at least seven public computers. As I've noticed throughout the GRRL system, there are movies on both VHS and DVD, and recorded books on both CD and cassette.

I had to hang around for about 40 minutes before the library opened so I got a bite to eat and noticed that trains go through Staples about every two minutes. Well, not that often, perhaps, but very often. So I wasn't surprised to see a periodical called Trains and to notice a train theme on the picture book bin labels.

There are clear, sensible rules of behavior. Too much to write here, but I like them.

An attractive wooden wall, about 7 feet high (not to the ceiling) divides the children's and adults' areas. A charming round room with windows and window-seats part way around is for the youngest children--and perhaps for programs? There are a lot of book and audio story sets, both cassette and DVD. Brochures in the children's area represent the "1000 books before kindergarten" program that I first saw at Big Lake, a "Circle of Parents" support group that meets at the elementary school, and a story hour at a local coffee shop.

On my way out, I noticed a rack of "newspapers on sticks" that take me back to my youth, when putting papers onto sticks like those was not my favorite task. And the bookdrop had a sign I like, especially the second sentence: "Please insert large items one at a time. The book drop is a courtesy, not a guarantee."

11/8/2012, car