476 Lester Public Library, Two Rivers, Wisconsin

My luck with visits seems to be changing. The town of Two Rivers, WI, has a library, and it's just a few miles north of Manitowoc. Plenty of time to make a visit before getting my car into the line to board the Badger Ferry.

This is not the best angle for the Lester Public Library, but I didn't know that until later, when I was driving away. Never mind...the best stuff is inside.

I'm approaching the library from the parking lot by the book drop. It was built in 1997, and the stone work is really handsome.

When I stopped at the service desk to get permission for photos, I saw this cool variation on "Lite Brite"--ordinary pegboard and many, many colored golf tees.

As I walked down the left side, straight ahead from the entrance, I was first struck by the handsome woodwork. It's not fancy, but it is very good-looking and it ties the interior together. Below, a glimpse into one of four study rooms. They are followed by a larger meeting room in the same style.

There are sixteen carrels, many with computers for public use and a few designated as laptop stations. Nearby are several study tables, two of them sporting completed jigsaw puzzles. Time to start a new one!

For history buffs, there are microfilm readers and printers, and many drawers of newspapers on microfilm. One title dates back to 1872! Libraries are often the repositories of local history.

Opposite the wooden walls with the study rooms is a long window wall with comfortable seating and an outdoor view. The adult fiction and non-fiction stacks are to the right. I really like the signs among the mystery books asking if you "want to read them in order" -- and providing a list of titles for a given author so you can do just that. Very handy.

A fireplace that matches the outside stonework anchors one end of the building, with plenty of seating near the periodicals and newspapers.

These plexiglass holders for periodicals are showing up in more and more libraries. I think they are really neat. They keep magazines neat literally, and they have handholds built in so you can take a
year's worth of one title to a table, for instance, and browse through past content.

The summer reading program, which is designed for kids of all ages AND for adults, is "Libraries Rock." The theme is carried out here in the adult area, which is a bit unusual in my experience.

I asked about this stained-glass sign near the entrance to the children's room. It turns out that it's an important piece of library history. I recommend the library's website for details -- it's a fine website -- but here's the quick version: 1890, a Chautauqua reading group starts to consider the need for a public library. Donations from the Mann family enable the Joseph Mann library to open the very next year.

In 1914 Two Rivers built a Carnegie library, with the same name. Fairly typically of Carnegie libraries,  it had some stained glass features. In 1995, the Lester family donated money for the present building, the library got a new name, and ties to the past were maintained by incorporating the Joseph Mann sign.

And now we enter the children's area. The first feature that caught my eye was the "stack of books" posted at the entrance. Signs suggest that kids figure out how many books tall they are. How about Dad or Mom? How many blue books can you find?

You saw the picture with the "libraries rock" theme in the adult area. Well, the children's staff really goes all out. [A couple of different people told me that.] The "tree" in the center is always there, but the leaves are changed during the year. Now, with the summer program just wrapping up, in addition to leaves there are also musical notes and CDs hanging on the tree. I understand that soon the green leaves will be replaced with autumnal colors.

Every surface gets the thematic treatment, evoking images of creative librarians perching on ladders. If you look at the far right of the colorful Libraries Rock sign, you'll see a black-and-white box. It took me a while to "get it," and I had to see more of these in various places: they are "speakers," of course!

A quiet (for the moment) center in the children's area.

Some libraries keep the tops of picture book shelves nice and clear; some display a few books on each shelf. My favorites go all-out with attention-getting covers. One reason I like displays like this is that I find titles I never saw before. I can't take them out, of course, but they are starred in my notebook and the first chance I get, I request them at my home library.

I'll bet that later in the day this area was jumping. Umm, I mean ROCKING, of course! There is a small stage at the end of this space, withwith a pink inflatable guitar and more of those black-box speakers. Let's have a concert!

Nearby are cubbies and bins with accessories and an invitation to "dress like a rock star." Love the green fedora; I have a grand-niece with a hat like that.

My next-to-last stop on the way out was a look at the aquarium that greets kids coming directly to the children's area, instead of walking all around first, as I did.

My very last stop was at the service desk, to offer compliments. And to try and buy a Library Rocks! T-shirt. Nope...they can't be bought, only earned. And adults can earn them, as well as kids.

Time to head back down the road and catch a ferry!

8/4/2018