434. Lanesboro Public Library, Lanesboro, MN

I had never been to Lanesboro, but I associate it with bicycle riding. In fact, I think that all four of the libraries I visited on this trip are connected by bike paths.

The library is part of a community center, and that center is located in a large park, a very nice combination. One feature in the picture that I'm sure is related to all the bike riding, is the gray door to the left in the picture below: it leads to restrooms and showers for men. Matching facilities for women are located at the other end of the building

Benches are plentiful, including this one near the library entrance.

Sometimes I think I should do a post totally about book return locations. This one, in the Lanesboro lobby, is surely one of a kind!

If you go straight ahead past the book drop, you enter down four steps to an inner lobby with bulletin boards and some Friends of the Library books for sale. But do yourself a favor and take the door on your right. That way, you can walk in down a ramp past a mural that will give you a good overview of the town.

If you walk all the way through the library you come to a tiny room on the left that holds the recorded books, a small Norwegian-American Heritage collection, and the staff refrigerator and microwave. Turn right and you'll enter the children's area. I thought I had taken a picture of a great READ wall sign, but apparently I did not. You can see the "D" at the left of the picture, and that will give you the scale. The whole sign is created from Little Golden Book covers. Next time I'm down this way, I really must stop in for a better picture!

Shelves on the left hold easy readers and non-fiction picture books. Fiction picture books are straight ahead and the shelves on the right are for junior non-fiction. On the wall above the shelves on the right are two narrower shelves that are being used to display children's audio books.

As you head back into the main part of the library, J and Y fiction are shelved along the wall to your right. Generally, non-fiction is on the five-high wall shelves to the left and fiction on the stacks--which are four shelves high but the bottom shelves are not in use. Well, except for storing wire book-display racks. I like the idea of placing a chair at the end of each stack, right where a patron might want one while making selections.

Just to demonstrate that Lanesboro is down in a valley, I took this picture from the park . Yes, those buildings are way up there!

Look for Lanesboro Public Library on Facebook for more pictures and program information. Be sure you specify Minnesota! And if it is still there, enjoy the picture of the yard sign that says "A Super Reader Lives Here." What a neat idea; the boy in the picture certainly likes it!

11/5/2016