Little Free Library

 

You're walking along tree-lined North Catalina Avenue in Altadena** on a warm, autumn day. Just north of Atchison Street you pass a sort of pumpkin-on-a-stick with a window in it, and you think, "I need to take a closer look at this thing."

This is not a pumpkin-on-a-stick, it's a tiny library in a Halloween costume. You've discovered one of the three Little Free Libraries in Altadena**. There may be more around here, the list/map is not up-to-date, and there are hundreds more around the United States. The mission of the Little Free Library is to promote literacy, build a sense of community, and build more than 2,510 libraries around the world ("more than Andrew Carnegie," they say, though his are somewhat larger, and I've never seen one dressed up for the holiday).

The little window is deceiving--there are two full rows of books: paperbacks and hardbacks, nonfiction, cookbooks, novels, books on business, books for kids, and more. The idea is simple: just come and take a book. Leave a book, too, if you can. I left four yesterday so if you can't this time, it's on me.

**I had this wrong. This is inside the Pasadena border.

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.

World Book Night

Is that a library tucked into that shady glen?

It is, absolutely, and why not? It's the main branch of the Altadena Library at 600 Mariposa Street, home of amazing books (and book sales, thanks to the Friends of the Altadena Library).

I read a lot about the publishing industry, which is undergoing wild changes like every other industry affected by the internet and the economy (which is every industry except the chocolate-covered insect industry). Some people say books will disappear. I don't think so. I think this will fadge in such a way that we'll just have different ways of distributing and receiving reading material, much as we have different ways of distributing and receiving music and movies.

Speaking of distribution: World Book Night is coming up on April 23 (Shakespeare's birthday). If you want to sign up to distribute free books you need to do that by February 6th. From the website: 

"Just take 20 free copies of a book to a location in your community, and you just might change someone's life...The goal is to give books to new readers, to encourage reading, to share your passion for a great book. The entire publishing, bookstore, library, author, printing, and paper community is behind this effort with donated services and time. The first World book Night was held in the UK last year, and it was such a big success that it's spreading around the world! Please volunteer to be a book giver in the U.S."

When you volunteer, they give you the books to distribute. You are required to have read the book you give away. Here are this year's books. 

I've read four of the books on the list: Little Bee by Chris Cleave, which I can't say I liked because it was too horrifying but it was also excellent, if you know what I mean; The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, which I'm sorry to say I barely remember; The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, I don't know why I read it because the subject matter is about my least favorite but everyone was reading it back then so I did; and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, which I absolutely loved. 

Several other books on the list are ones I want to read, but I don't think I'm in the target audience for a free book and my pile of to-be-read books is almost up to my waist, so I'll have to get to them when I can. Because they're good books, and good books aren't going anywhere.

Let me know if you sign up.

Hastings Branch Library

A while back during Banned Books Week, I posted a series about local library branches. But Pasadena has more library branches (and libraries not part of the city system) than days in the week. So I still get to pop one in here once in a while.

The Hastings Branch is part of Pasadena's city system and today's a good time to visit. It's open from 10-6 on Saturdays.

From the website: 

Hastings has strong popular fiction, picture book, folk and fairytale, home arts, travel, and biography collections.

The meeting room accommodates up to 35 people. Use of the meeting room is free to groups who do not charge an admission fee or restrict admission on the basis of membership.

Hastings Branch has a large on-going book sale, where both hardbound and paperback books are sold.

Those are three of my favorite things about this branch. Go ahead and click the Hastings Branch link because they might have some of your favorite things, too.

My fourth favorite thing about this branch is the butterfly sculpture outside the north side of the building. I couldn't find out anything about it, so if you've got any info, let us hear it.

Librarians Rule

looking out over the north entrance of Pasadena's Central Library

It's no secret I'm a fan of libraries and, by extension, librarians. You can imagine my glee when I received the press release with the following headline:

CALIFORNIA’S LIBRARIANS TO GATHER IN PASADENA TO DISCUSS THE CHANGING WORLD OF LIBRARY SERVICES

It's not like I'm going to the California Library Association Conference, or that I expect to meet any of these librarians while they're here this weekend (the 11th to 13th). It's just nice to know they're coming to town.

I hear they're a raucous bunch. In fact I know they are, my sister's a librarian. She's not a California librarian, but I know what I'm talking about. Don't let all that shushing fool you. These Dewey-eyed fans of Melvil and Melville are into space-age information distribution and wild, late-night author signings. They support literature of all kinds even if they don't agree with it. They read banned books.

From the press release:
“We’re very pleased to host the conference and showcase our community and our library system for librarians from across our state,” said Pasadena Library and Information Services Director Jan Sanders. “It’s a chance for us to learn to better meet the needs of library users.  We also look forward to having conference attendees visit our libraries while they are here.”

They'll be in the libraries! Look out!

More information about the conference is available at www.cla-net.org.

Allendale Branch Library

Ha! Library!

Don't say I didn't warn you.

The Allendale Branch library was a surprise to me. It's across the street from the Blair school complex, which is imposing enough that I drove around the block twice before I found the library hiding in plain sight.

If you're in need of a fiction fix and you're on the almost-South-Pasadena side of town, you might want to check out Allendale's collection, which includes many Young Adult titles (appropriately, considering its proximity to Blair High School).

I love this architectural/historical note on the website: "The remodeled Allendale Branch building, created as an isolation hospital in the twenties, opened for library business in 1951. Allendale Branch Library is a unique and exemplary neighborhood center, combining school, library, park and recreational resources."

Isolation hospital! Wouldn't you love to know some of that history?

Santa Catalina Branch Library

I had so much fun showing you Pasadena's branch libraries during Banned Books Week that I decided to keep going until I finish. I'll sneak one in when you're not looking for it. Ha! Library! Bet you didn't expect THAT!

This is the Santa Catalina Branch, perched on a slope next door to Longfellow School on Washington Blvd. The website says it's closed for renovation and they're not kidding. Workers are in there scraping and painting right now.

Just like all of Pasadena's branch libraries, the Santa Catalina Branch reflects the needs of its neighbors. Here are a couple of paragraphs from the website:

"Home to the system's Armenian language collection, today's Santa Catalina Branch building was completed in December, 1930. The branch's staff can accommodate both English and Armenian speaking patrons.

Santa Catalina Branch is proud of its Preservation Corner. This collection of books and materials highlights the architectural Bungalow style evident in neighboring houses. Preservation Corner is sponsored by the Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association, Historic Highlands Neighborhood Association and the Pasadena Public Library."

While this branch is closed, never fear. Head straight west on Washington and in a couple of minutes you'll be at La Pintoresca branch. You're never far from a library in Pasadena.

Hill Avenue Branch Library

Confession: although the Hill Avenue Branch of the Pasadena library is my favorite, I've never been inside. I've judged this book by its cover.

The building, designed by Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury, is the oldest in the Pasadena Public Library system. It opened May 6, 1925, thirteen days before construction began on the Central Library, which opened nearly two years later.

I don't know if Sylvanus Marston was a star architect at the time but he's the one from the partnership we remember most now. He designed the Fenyes Mansion and the Curtin House (and many other fine buildings I haven't taken pictures of yet).

From the website:
"Located directly across the street from Pasadena City College, Hill Avenue Branch library is home to the system's Asian language collection. The collection features Chinese books, newspapers and magazines, as well as a fiction and non-fiction collection for adults and children in Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese. The Hill Avenue Branch serves three elementary schools and eight preschools in the area. Hill Avenue Branch is also used by students and faculty from Pasadena City College and Caltech."

They've got a lot more going on that I don't have room for here, so I promise if you'll check out the website I'll actually go inside the library next time I'm over there nosing around with my camera.

I hope you're enjoying Banned Books Week. Maybe we'll visit one more branch library tomorrow, what do you say?

Update: Thanks go to Diana for sending me this gentle correction: [Sylvanus Marston] "didn't design the Fenyes Mansion...; that honor goes to Robert D. Farquhar. He did quite a few amazing buildings around Los Angeles, as well; nice survey of them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_D._Farquhar"

Lamanda Park Library

I stopped by to take pictures of the Lamanda Park branch library on a Friday. Lamanda Park is closed on Fridays and Sundays. In fact, many of the branches have reduced hours and it's a good idea to check the website before you go.

The empty parking lot at Lamanda had a forlorn look to it. Peering in the windows at the unused chairs and neatly shelved books made me sorry the collection is neglected two days a week. But if the world is having a recession (and I do believe it is) and if Pasadena is part of that world (and lordy, yes, I do believe we are), then let's do ourselves a favor and look at the positive side. Maybe we should consider ourselves fortunate that we get to keep our libraries. Perhaps cutting hours in some of the branches is how the city manages to keep them all open. (Except the Santa Catalina Branch, which is being remodeled.)

It's remarkable, when you think about it, that our taxes pay for this service and a library card gives you free access to the entire Pasadena library system, and that of Glendale as well. (You also have two more days to renew a lost library card for free. A good way to celebrate Banned Books Week.)

I notice each of the libraries has its own unique programs. For instance, there's a Lip Reading and Memory Enhancement class on Wednesdays at Lamanda Park. You won't find that at the other branches.

This from the website: "The first Lamanda Park Branch opened in 1922, in a small room in Emerson School. The second was at the present site, but was a relocated section of the old library from Raymond and Walnut. The current building, designed by Pulliam, Zimmerman and Matthews, Architects and Planners, was completed on October 14, 1967 and is 6,200 square feet. Branch staff can accommodate English, Spanish and American Sign Language speaking patrons."

I think that's pretty good, even if it's only five days a week.

La Pintoresca Library

We're visiting Pasadena libraries for Banned Books Week. Pasadena has too many libraries to visit them all in one week (and we're all snooty-proud of that fact), but we'll do what we can.

This is the lovely La Pintoresca branch library at the corner of Washington and Fair Oaks. It's one of the busiest of our branch libraries.

Last night I went to a lecture at Caltech, given by professor John Sutherland of Caltech and University College London, about Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"--which, perhaps not coincidentally, is on the list of banned or challenged classics we discussed the other day. That's a long way 'round to telling you the lecture was sponsored by the Friends of the Caltech Libraries. Did you know Caltech has six libraries? (Speaking of snooty-proud.)

Pasadena has 10 libraries (the Central Library and its nine branches). I'm puffing my chest out even further over six more at Caltech.

Now that I think of it, Pasadena City College has a beautiful library. And of course there's the Altadena Library. I wonder if there's a library at the Art Center College of Design? JPL might have one, too. Do the schools still have libraries? If they do, I'll be tripping over myself.


Update from Thal Armathura (what would we do without you, Thal?):
This is from Flowers of Marengo by Maggie Valentine, a fascinating article about northwest Pasadena and its many treasures:
The site of La Pintoresca (Painter) Hotel, the land was acquired by the City when the hotel burned down. Landscape architects Theodore Payne and Ralph Cornell laid out the park in 1925. Many of the trees and plantings date from the 1880's, when they were part of the grounds of the hotel. The spanish Revival library, designed by Cyril Benett and Fitch Haskell in 1930, complements the 1925 Electric Substation, also by Bennett and Haskell, at the northeast corner of the park. Clerestory windows in the central tower illuminate the reading room and circulation desk in the center of the building, which is laid out in a Greek cross plan. The library and park are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week officially began yesterday, but we have all week to celebrate.

Because Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association (among a host of others) and because Pasadena has ten libraries (counting the Central Library and nine branch libraries), this seems like the perfect week to visit some libraries here on the old blog.

It's also a good week to check out a banned book you've been meaning to read. The classics that have faced bans or challenges is a surprisingly varied reading list.

The Particulars

Who: would be so negligent as to lose their library card? Uh, that would be me.

What: This is the dome of Pasadena's City Hall reflected in a window of the Central Library.

When: During the month of September, you can renew a lost library card for free. Usually it's $10.

Where: 285 E. Walnut St, Pasadena.

Why: Because I like it. Not the library card. I mean yes, I like the library card (or I will when I get it). But the picture. I like the picture. And the library. City Hall, too.

Haunting the Library

If my mother were alive, today would be her 90th birthday. She and my father taught me and my siblings to love books. It worked: I'm a writer, like Mother was. One of my sisters is a librarian. My brother is a book seller. My one sister who isn't in the book business has a Ph.D, like my dad did. We all seem to be partial to book learnin'.

I went to the library yesterday to research a new book. It was about 100 degrees out. On hot days people come in, find a book and a comfy chair and snooze in the air conditioning. Added to that, "the collection is being rearranged," or words to that effect, adding to the busy feeling at the library. I don't know if the new fourth floor teen center (pictured here in its larval phase) is a cause or an effect of the rearrangement. I found a quiet bench on the fourth floor near the construction area and read for a while.

After I checked out my books I stopped at the Friends of the Library book store to see if I could snag a bargain. A woman there was buying almost all of the children's books. She reminded me of someone who would be very old today if she were still here. But she'd have no trouble finding her way around a busy library.

Guest Author: Irene McDermott and The Internet Book of Life

Today's guest author is all about computers--and libraries. Made for each other! Please welcome guest author Irene McDermott.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, the “Book of Life” contains the name of righteous souls. The Internet Book of Life: Use the Web to Grow Richer, Smarter, Healthier, and Happier, is my new book. This book of life lists the names of righteous web resources: reliable, useful sites on a variety of subjects designed to help families in all aspects of daily life.

I am a librarian at the Crowell Public Library in San Marino. People often ask me if the internet will put libraries out of business. When people think of libraries, they think of books. Yet, since the web came on the scene in about 1995, library use has increased by 50%. Many come for the computers and then pick up a best seller on the way out.

So, the internet has been nothing but good for libraries. I know that I owe my career to it. I studied for my master’s degree just as the graphical web emerged, from 1993 to 1995. At an internship at the Getty Institute for the Arts I learned about the web and taught it to the librarians there. The skills that I learned that summer, playing with the baby web, landed me a “cybrarian” gig at the USC, and later, my current job where I not only staff the reference desk but take care of the computers, too.

When my husband became ill with colon cancer in 1998, I used the web to find an experimental treatment that saved his life. Unfortunately, even the latest medical research could not save him from the glioma that took him from us in 2008. Still, we were active partners in the treatments that prolonged and enhanced the quality of his life thanks to timely information that I found on the internet.

A couple of years later, after I felt sufficiently recovered, I turned to an online dating site to find new love, a divorced dad who healed my broken heart.

As a mom, I find the web essential for managing my household. I use it for shopping, recipes, making travel plans, online banking, and even learning how to make repairs around the house. My son has become a search master, using it for school.

In 2002, I spoke to the Library of Congress about reference resources available to librarians on the web. My sister, who accompanied me, insisted that I share these helpful sites with the world. The Internet Book of Life is the result. I hope that the sites and the stories in my book will help families everywhere to save money and live happily.

Keep current with websites from the book on my blog: http://imcdermott.wordpress.com.

Linda Vista Branch Library

The Pasadena Public Library has kits for your book club to check out. Each kit includes study questions and materials for getting the most out of the book your group is reading, plus 12-15 copies of the book. Anyone with a library card can check out a kit. Go to the search page at the library's website and search "words in the subject/kits."

I shouldn't tell you this because the number of kits is limited and I want them to be available to my book group. When I checked the website last night there were 38 kits, down from 39 a couple of weeks ago when I was searching for a kit for my group. 39 might seem like enough, but the fiction always seems to go first. I couldn't get what I wanted. To my horror, I was forced to check out a memoir.

Damn if it didn't turn out to be fantastic. (The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.)

And damn if that isn't what a book club is for--opening your eyes to something you weren't looking for.

I expanded my library horizons, too. I usually go to the Central Library but the kit I wanted happened to be at the Linda Vista Branch. I'd never been there before. Now I know a new quiet spot to work. I don't know where the coffee is (there's got to be coffee) but isn't the children's area cute? That furniture takes me back.

Sunday, Sunday

There are worse things you could do than sit on the back steps of Pasadena's Central Library on a Sunday. (Not all branches are open today, but this one's open from 1-5.)

You could go north, where the Friends of the Altadena Library conclude this year's book sale from 1-4pm.

You could catch five free museums at Museums of the Arroyo Day (MOTA). 

And it's open house weekend at the Jet Propulsion Lab, when our normally modest rocket scientists get to show off.

No matter your plans, keep in mind that the Pasadena Marathon is also today, so check the map for street closures before you head out if you want to find the runners--or if you don't.

Guest Author: Victoria Patterson and "This Vacant Paradise"

Today I'm honored to host guest author Victoria Patterson, the South Pasadena writer whose novel, This Vacant Paradise, was published March 4th. Victoria will be appearing at Vroman's this Thursday, March 24th at 7pm.

 

For the most part, my fiction takes place in Newport Beach, but I live and write in South Pasadena. A tour of the places in South Pasadena (and surrounding areas) where I’ve written, and where my story collection, Drift, and my novel, This Vacant Paradise, came to life, would take quite some time, especially considering the seventeen years we’ve lived in South Pasadena. 

           
For years I worked at the South Pasadena Library (and I still do at times).  I’ve staked out every quiet and isolated work area at S. Pasadena Library, my favorite being the upstairs conference room, although that didn’t last long, considering there was just solitary me. The downstairs partitioned workspace desks near the teen section are great—while said teens are at school—except during “Storytime”(which I used to take my kids to), when the massive avalanche of toddlers’ feet boom from overhead.

Buster’s Coffee on the corner of Meridian and Mission was a mainstay, though ultimately I knew too many people, and would end up visiting and talking rather than working.

For close to three years, I worked at the coffee shop at Vroman’s, and I actually wrote an essay about it.

Pasadena Library, check. Starbucks, check.

For a long time, I worked at Caltech library, on one of the upper floors, with its spectacular view of the mountains. But then it was discovered that a Hummer-graffiti-terrorist civilian was also taking advantage of the library, and Caltech became understandably more restrictive.

This is a small sampling—I could go on and on, because South Pasadena (and Pasadena, San Marino, Alhambra, Sierra Madre) is home to my writing, even if the writing takes place elsewhere. 

Cozy Up to the Library

Pasadena Central Library's Centennial Room

Yesterday, several of my neighbors packed their kids in their cars and headed to Altadena to play in the snow. My friends in Burbank said they made a snowman, but I haven't seen pictures.

I grew up in a cold climate and I moved to the west coast for a reason. To my mind, if you didn't have a fire going in your fireplace yesterday, it was a good day for the library.

Today's good, too, except the Central Library is open only from 1-5 on Sundays and the other branches are closed. I guess the librarians have a right to take a day off and freeze just like everyone else.

The travesty is that on Sundays, Central Grounds is closed.

Four Stars, To Be Exact

I learned from the 1/17/11 issue of Wired Women, Monica Hubbard's packed-with-Pasadena e-newsletter, that the Pasadena Public Library earned a four star rating from the The Library Journal "for providing exceptional response to patrons and superior customer service."

The Library Journal, a trade publication for libraries (as opposed to, say, itinerant rodeo riders), was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey, the guy who invented the Dewey Decimal System. It has the highest circulation of any library journal. I mention these things because I think they make recognition of our library by this publication especially brag-worthy.

I enjoyed reading about library director Jan Sanders, who in 1999 was named to the Intellectual Freedom Hall of Fame. Could there be a cooler hall of fame? Maybe, but this one's way up there. Apparently it's not like the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in that it doesn't have an actual hall. I couldn't find it on the internet. But still.

Congratulations to Ms. Sanders and the Pasadena Public Library. May your (our) funds not be cut too deeply.

Be made whole by books as by great spaces and the stars. I love the library.