Life List #20, Part 4: Visit Every Library In The DC System, Take A Picture, And Check Out A Book. August 10, 2011

This is Lamond-Riggs, which is our neighborhood library. It’s a small branch, but has a good, current collection. They usually have the bestsellers, things folks are interested in reading right now. The librarian is a master-weeder, so if you want older titles, early books in a series, etc, this is not the place for you – that said I always find a book I’ve been wanting to pick up when I walk in. I’ve never left empty-handed.

To the left side of the above picture is the children’s area, which I guess we will be exploring more in the next year or two. To the right side, Jami checks out the new books. On this visit, I check out Pregnancy Day by Day, edited by Maggie Block.

Mighty Life List #20, Part 3: Visit Every Library In The DC System, Take A Picture, And Check Out A Book. December 3, 2010

The West End Branch of the DC Public Library has a special place in my heart, because I worked here briefly as a Sunday librarian. It was my chance to try out the public library world, and I enjoyed it – but in the end working 6 days a week was too much for me, so I returned to being *just* a law librarian.

The library is located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of DC, and has a small, but lovely collection. It gets a lot of use, which was surprising to me when I started there, because I always thought of Foggy Bottom as being inhabited mainly by GW students.

One thing I always thought West End did very well was their book displays. I always found something new I wanted to read every time I came – and this weeks trip was no exception. I checked out: I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman and a travel guide to weekend trips in the DC area.

Mighty Life List #20, Part 2: Visit Every Library In The DC System, Take A Picture, And Check Out A Book. September 16, 2010

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library is the DCPL branch I visit most often. It is just a few blocks from my work, and I’m there about once a week. MLK is DC’s “central library” with a larger building and collection than the neighborhood libraries and reference librarians who are subject specialists. It’s also kind of ugly.

Okay, that’s probably unfair. The building is historic, designed by Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1972. If Wikipedia is to be believed, it’s the only library he ever designed, which is pretty cool right there. There is a great, big mural in the lobby depicting the library’s namesake.

The collection is good though, and there have been some interior renovations that make the space a little friendlier (like the Children’s Room on the second floor that was redone a few years ago). There is also an awesome new Teen Space, but I didn’t get a good picture.

I spend most of my time in the “Popular Library” however – home to the Fiction collection, DVDs, and the holds shelf. I put lots of books on hold, and then all I have to do is swing by and pick them.

Today’s pick-up? Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethaa.