16a. Hennepin County, Linden Hills, Minneapolis -- Revisit

As you can tell from the number on this entry, Linden Hills was one of the early visits I made when I started this project in 2012. This summer I'll be doing a lot of re-visits to see what has changed in three years. Here in Linden Hills, the first obvious difference is that the scaffolding is gone...see the picture in the original post. Beyond that, since my first post was very skimpy, we'll just go at this anew.

From the entrance I went down four steps and found the children's area to the left. The program room is to the rear, with a nicely patterned carpet, magnetic gears and pictures to use on circular metal plates on the wall, picture books, a couch, a "kitchen," and a collection of dress-up clothes by a full-length mirror. A sign suggests "Ask for a very special sticker for kids who help to clean up." I saw this in action: while I was talking to the librarian, two little girls approached to ask for stickers after they put away what they had been using. What's special about the stickers? They are "scratch and sniff"! The youngsters were thrilled.

In the front corner on this side are a fireplace, the Children's book collection, and four computers on a child-level table with suitable low chairs. A restroom is located in the children's area, also.

On the other side of the lower level, to the right, are media, eight computers, and an interesting sort of alcove with a built-in bench, matching a bow window on the level above. The space to the back appears to be staff space and workrooms. Each side on this level has a service desk--and each service desk has a friendly librarian!

The upper level can be reached by elevator or stairs. I took the stairs and arrived in a space, the back-left corner, with easy chairs and periodicals. The front-left corner has a non-fiction collection and four more computers. Front-right holds fiction, back-right has reference and historical books and a scale model of the library that I remember from my first visit here. Off the back-right space is a roof-top patio with a few chairs. Both spaces on this side have fireplaces, and both of the "front" spaces have large bow windows with leaded panes.

The center rear is clearly labeled "Teen Area. For teens only. Thanks for your cooperation." There are shelves of books and a couple of computers reserved for teens. There are none of the bright colors, fancy seating, or other special items often found in teen areas, suggesting that private space is more important than these amenities.

There is a service desk in the center of this level, and there are two examples of programing here that I enjoyed looking at. One is a display of "The best teen and adult books of the decade so far, chosen by Linden Hills readers." As of June 18, there were 35 nominations. The other is an invitation to write and post a "six word biography," with a display of related books. The items already posted were interesting and clever.

 Ordinarily I would now post links to library websites. I do have a link to Linden Hills information in the Hennepin County Library site: http://www.hclib.org/about/locations/linden-hills, but I did not find a Facebook page. If there is one, please let me know in a comment and I will add it here.

6/23/2015, bus and walk