Check Out

I mentioned in March that I'd ventured past the Pasadena border to check out a book from the Glendale Central Library. Yesterday I checked out Glendale's Pacific Park Branch at 501 S. Pacific Avenue. It's part of a community center, next door to a school. A lot goes on there.

I chose this branch because they had a copy of the book I wanted. I knew they had it because I checked the website before I went over there. You don't have to guess, then find out when you get there that they don't have it or someone checked it out. I love that. Plus the librarians were extremely friendly and helpful. It was a convenient, snappy visit.

There's a lot to love about any library. (I like inconvenient, dusty, slow-poke libraries as much as I do snappy ones.) The Pasadena and Glendale systems enhance each other by being one big system, at least in effect. I can use my Pasadena library card to check books out of the Glendale library. I can return a book I checked out in Glendale by taking it to a Pasadena branch, and vice versa. And if I can't get to Glendale to pick up a book they have, they'll deliver it to the Pasadena branch of my choice.

All of that's paid for with my tax money. It's a pretty good deal.

Book Network

This shot of the main reading area at the Central branch of the Glendale Public Library is misleading. It looks dark but in reality, the tall windows let in the perfect amount of natural light. It's a good space for a good read.

My book group has been getting book kits from Glendale. We can check them out with our Pasadena library cards because it's all part of the same system. I so appreciate that. A book kit is a nice canvas bag with 15 copies of the same book in it, along with a notebook full of information about the book and its author. Sending one person to the library to pick up the kit beats sending 15 people running around to book stores and library branches all over the San Gabriel Valley, trying to find copies of the book we're reading this month. You do have to reserve them ahead of time because there are a LOT of book groups in the SGV.

Pasadena has book kits too, at the Linda Vista Branch. And quite a few book discussion groups meet at the Central library. I doubt if they get to have wine and cheese, though, and certainly not homemade coffee cake.