565 Kingston Community Library, Kingston, New Hampshire

Ahh, Kingston. If you search for 532 Kingston, you'll find the report of a visit about 15 months ago. And you'll see that the earlier visit was more about a nature trail than a library. Why? Well, go look at the other entry. This time the library was open, so I'm giving it its own number (565) and a normal review.

The library is larger than I remembered. This is the view from close to the sign.

The entranceway is very nice, with stone accents and a sense of both arrival and sheltering.

Once inside and given permission for pictures, I started looking around. The gentleman in the picture is Josiah Bartlett. I had to look him up; he's one of the founding fathers, a delegate to the Continental Congress for New Hampshire. Wikipedia tells us that he lived in Kingston. It also reminds us of the fictional Josiah Bartlett, the President in the West Wing television series.

Many libraries have fireplaces. They often appear to be unused. I'm guessing that this one is sometimes used, since a safety rail is placed around it.

A half-dozen computer carrels are at the ready, but thanks to the pandemic and social distancing, only three are in use.

A friendly reminder...

Both sides of the library have this combination of window seats and shelves. Informal seating and natural light, a winning combination.

Tall table and chairs, games at the ready, suggest that this is the teen area.

        

Is it something crazy about the camera angle, or are the stacks really looming over us?

This shelf reminded me that I haven't seen over-sized books shelved by themselves lately. I'll have to watch on upcoming visits to see what other libraries are doing for the books that need extra space.

Periodicals are displayed on slanted shelves. Even without dividers, they seem to remain in tidy stacks.

I used to build dollhouses, so I took a good look at this room box near
the entrance to the children's area. It's very nicely done.

This sign is on a shelf of books in the children's area. The subtext seems to be "Don't spread books all over." Or could it be "DO judge a book by its cover?" I saw copies of this sign in other places, so I'm pretty sure the message is about tidiness.

Crayons and coloring sheets are standing ready for youngsters to use.

The large display on the wall shows participants in the "1000 Books Before Kindergarten" program.

I was stopped in my tracks when I spotted this large, real tree. I can't for the life of me think why I didn't take more care with a picture of the tree. It's magnificent. 

At the base of the tree a seating area is made from sections of tree trunk with cushioned seats.

This is clearly a space for the youngest library visitors. As always, I like the natural light and the link to the outdoors.

I'm always glad to see maps and globes in libraries.

Giant "book spines" bracket a doorway. They make me think of a library someone showed me on Facebook just this morning.

        

Here's one place where patrons are encouraged to leave messages...

...and here's another. 

These stone pillars near the entrance visually link the inside and the outside of the building.

I put this in to remind me to search for a plastic bag recycling opportunity where I live. The Lions Club does the collecting and with enough plastic a community can have a bench. I walk a lot and I'm very pro-bench (because I also like to sit). I must look into this.

These shelves are in a large meeting room near the library door. When I was there the room was being used for a book sale.

The large version of the sign gives the basics. The one in back gives the reason: "It sets off the alarm system if left down." You wouldn't want to do that more than once!

February isn't the best time to be looking at plants, but on the way to my car I noticed several garden plots, each with a label: Herb Garden, Fragrance Garden, Culinary Garden, and Dye Garden. This must enable a lot of varied programs in season.

 Now I can shake off the unfinished feeling about Kingston that I've had since November 2020. I hope the Girl Scouts are still maintaining, or planning to maintain, the nature trail!

2/22/2022