So, Linda and I have been chatting on twitter about reducing clutter, and I know I've mentioned here that I am trying to get my bookshelves (and other stuff) under control. I'm getting closer to retirement (both in terms of my age and in terms of my emotional readiness to get out of full-time employment), so my husband and I are working hard to reduce expenses.

 

I've been thinking a lot about the fact that I stopped using my public library about ten years ago. There were a number of reasons for this - my kids were growing up, so we didn't go to story time anymore, I bought a kindle and fell in love with the convenience of ebooks, and, importantly, my local library was temporarily housed in an old strip mall and was aesthetically unappealing. I really couldn't bear to visit the library with its dirty carpet and ugly surroundings.

 

About 3 years ago, though, my town finally remodeled our old library. We are blessed with an old Carnegie Library that was built in 1913. There was a bad addition that had to be removed before the library could be restored to it's early glory, and then a new, large addition was added in 2015, so that the library has tripled in size.

 

I thought that it would be fun to show some pictures of the remodeled library!

 

 

This is the front of the original library, before the addition. It is a lovely, symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing building. My son's band actually played a set in front of the steps, and the library frequently has local musicians come and play.

 

 

This is a side view of the post-remodel building. The circular concrete area is actually a splash park for kids, and is heavily used by the community during the summer.

 

 

This is a view from the original section of the library into the addition. The fireplace is original, and has couches placed in front of it. I do not know if they use the fireplace in the winter, but do plan to find out.

 

 

This shows the new addition. You can see that there is a lot of natural light flooding the building. The children's area is on the right.

 

So, yesterday, I was driving by the library and decided to go in and get my card reactivated. Since the last time I visited, they've added overdrive, so I can actually check out both kindle books and audiobooks. So, now I'm a library user. Again!