495 Fulda Memorial Library, Fulda, Minnesota

So, what took me to the southwest corner of Minnesota? A beautiful day for driving, for one thing. And a comment on the blog that mentioned Fulda. A comment that seems to have evaporated, or gone into hiding. No matter; it gave the librarian on duty a mystery to try and solve: Who wrote the comment that brought me here? Whoever it was, I'm sorry that I didn't get to meet him or her.

         

After I introduced myself to the librarian, the first thing I noticed was a set of shelves with dozens of board games, all labeled and ready to circulate. Many libraries have collections of games, but usually they seem to be meant for in-library use.

One end of this long, narrow space is the children's area, which includes this attractive, comfortable corner.

I like the clear expectations for the "Monday Meet-Up," an after-school program. From a reminder to park your bike correctly, to the clean up activity that is built right into the program, I think this is really great.

Those spheres are 3-D mazes. I gave one of them a try and quickly decided that kids are surely much better at these than I am! Providing manipulatives like these is probably helpful for siphoning off some extra after-school energy.

The shelves in the foreground hold junior fiction, while the taller ones in the background hold non-fiction. More fiction is on the spinner.

A longer view of the children's area gives a look at the various spaces and their contents. Natural light from windows is always a plus.

There are two computers for kids. This one is near the entrance to the children's area...and also near the librarian's desk. The second one is next to the three adult computers, allowing a parent to do his or her work on a computer while a child is similarly occupied nearby.

The library is full of murals which appear to reflect the town and surrounding community.

I think this is my favorite mural. It's so neat, the way it blends indoors and out. That's the entrance to the library on the right.

This area holds periodicals and large print books. The periodicals are on wall shelves just to the left of the picture. More large print books are on stacks behind me.

Here are the rest of the large print books, along with an array of newspapers on the table. Beyond these books you'll find one stack of Christian fiction, one of other fiction, and three of non-fiction.

Somebody had fun painting the ceiling tiles in the teen area. Perhaps the teens themselves?

The end of most stacks have a narrow, free-standing bookshelf used for displays. The sign on the bottom shelf here says "We love it when you check out the displays." I recall from experience that people often are hesitant to take a displayed book, not realizing that the librarians have displayed them for just that purpose: to catch your eye and interest.

Another fun sign points out to adults that it's just fine to read YA books, even if you are no longer young. As encouragement, the librarians indicate that they sometimes read these books. And if you need to plug in a laptop or whatever, just follow the green arrow.

Very artistic decorative touches are found everywhere in this library...even in the rest room! I think this is the first library where I've felt compelled to take a restroom picture, but it really deserves to be called out, in my opinion.

9/22/2018