The weather has been great lately, well suited to driving in a world of colored foliage and visiting libraries, not so well suited to staying home and writing posts. But it's getting cloudy, so let's see if I can get some writing done. We're heading for southwest New Hampshire, to a little cluster of three libraries I haven't been to before. [I was sure I'd been to Bennington, VT, but it seems that I haven't. Now I need a longer trip...]
The weather is so nice that the front door can be propped open to welcome us.
Inside that door is a colorful sign welcoming us to a metaphoric pumpkin patch. We will surely find something here that is just what we want.
This is the policy at many libraries, but it's rare that I see it written out and posted. I'll enlarge it for legibility. What do you think?
I'm not sure but I think this is the Young Adult collection.
The view from behind the service desk. I don't usually get a nuts-and-bolts picture like this because of my "no people" rule.
I used to share the view that graphic novels aren't real books. Then I read a few, especially those by Alison Bechdel, and changed my mind. I don't often search out graphic novels (or graphic non-fiction) but I've found many titles that I like. I've had to learn to read differently, to pay attention to the graphics as well as the words.
I didn't intend to get a picture of that pink sign above, but since I did, the "or" leads to a request to patrons not to try and re-shelve series books in series order. It is a challenge for librarians, whether to shelve by title or by series number. I've seen both (and neither). Bottom line: "When in Rome...." [A side note from where I used to work: How about James Patterson's series, "3rd Degree," "4th of July," "The 5th Horseman"? Shelve numerically or by title? And one of my co-workers wanted these shelved alphabetically by the spelling of the number: "Third Degree." That didn't last long.]
This looks like a collection that is outgrowing its space. This is a good problem to have, in a way, but "weeding" a collection can be difficult. New Hampshire is fortunate in having a robust Interlibrary Loan process that allows patrons of any library to get books that are not in their "home" collection. This has the effect of magnifying the overall state collection.
Downstairs in the children's area I was charmed by this little ladybug chair, just the right size for a toddler.
A portion of the collection. Someday I may learn how to get a decent picture when facing into the sun. I may.
Time to head out to the second library.
10/6/2022
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Sorry about the "verification" step; I added it after a rash of spammish comments.