This month for Where in the World Are You Reading, the topic is libraries.
I have posted before about my lack of local library love. I try, but I’m inevitably disappointed whenever I vow to be a good library patron. My chief complaints are that they charge for requests and holds (and my branch rarely has what I’m looking for), they’re closed on Mondays (the day I’m off and usually running around town doing errands (actually, all county branches are closed on Sunday and Mondays, and Saturday hours are short, making it difficult to fit in a visit), and their programs cater to the local retirees (which is great, but I really can’t join a book club that meets on Wednesdays at 10am). Maybe when I’m 65 I’ll love my library more.
However, there is a pretty cool mural on the west side of the building:
Here’s an explanation of what’s going on, thanks to the Friends of the Library site:
Composed of 125,000 one inch square pieces of glass, the 650 square foot mural depicts the history and environs of Morro Bay. A native Chumash Indian, early explorer Juan Cabrillo, and missionaries are pictured along the modern-day city of Morro Bay against a backdrop of blue water and green hills. Native flora and fauna, including a peregrine falcon and sea otter, are woven in.
There’s also a humongous sand dollar that amuses me. You can see it in the bottom left corner of the above picture. I promise the ones on the beach are normal size. And the mural has a weird chopped-off appearance on the left side because there used to be a tree there. This bugs me every time I look at it! I know…I’m such a critic.
Here are the close ups:
My photos are particularly bad because we’re in the midst of the foggiest part of summer in Morro Bay (the hotter it is elsewhere, the foggier it is here) and the mural tends to look dreary in foggy weather. Except for grouchy-face Juan…he’s pretty hard to miss no matter what the weather is like, thanks to his spiffy red cape and his ginormous body. I mean really…he’s as big as the ships!
Inside is a pretty basic library. Other than the outside, it’s a no-frills operation.
The mural is nice. It sounds like the library doesn’t cater to its patrons needs.
That mural is gorgeous! There is no such thing as a bad public library
but I am REALLY surprised yours charges for requests and holds.
The mural is very nice! That’s so annoying you have to pay for everything, though. My library is pretty good about everything really. It is just pretty basic, though. Most of the books come from other branches.
Love the mural! Your library sounds a lot like mine. It’s got severely limited hours, caters to the older crowd (we have more large type mysteries and popular fiction than anything else) and seldom carries anything I actually am interested in. Also, some of the librarians are total grumpy-guts. You go to the counter to ask a question and they look at you like, “What? WHAT?? YOU WANT ME TO RISE????” I actually make them check in books in front of me because it’s a given that if I drop them off I’ll get a letter saying I haven’t returned my books. That really pisses them off, having to get up to check in books.
The children’s librarian is a dream, though. Too bad my kids are all grown up. And, we do have a perpetual sale corner with donated books and library rejects for sale. That’s actually the best way to find the good literary fiction, just keep checking back in the little sale corner weekly. That’s where the other frustrated library patrons drop off the books they’ve had to buy.
Someone there needs to take a class in customer service! They have let budget cuts go to their heads. We have experienced some cut backs as well (the drive-thru window closed, and hours have decreased) but overall ours does a great job. They DO charge for inter-library loans. But some rich person died and left an endowment to fund home delivery, so I order my books online and they come via courier to my door. Love.
Ugh, I would hate to pay for holds and requests. That would just suck. I put a TON of books on hold, and our library has such a small selection that many of them are shipped from other libraries. On the other hand, maybe if I were paying for my holds I’d be more likely to read all of them.
I’m so not scheduled in my reading that the library has never worked for me. I tried, but no luck.
That’s a pretty incredible mural!
It’s pretty stinky that the library is always closed when you want to go there, but that mural is fantastic! I would be mad if they changed my holds and never had what I wanted, so I can get your frustration!
That mural sure would lead readers to think that here is a town where the citizens have really put some money into their library. Maybe only by people trying to find someplace to drop off their elderly parents during the day?
I would have to say that you have some really legitimate complaints about your library. Charge for requests and holds??? Yikers.
I love murals and I love libraries.
Your library needs some funds so it can stay open! Ours is open every day. Only 4 hours on Sunday, but still. Now that I have a kid we are at our library A LOT. I like the history in art at your library. Very cool.
You are a good sport Ms. Jill. I’m not thrilled with my library either but mostly because I have what I need at home…um or at the bookstore.
Though my next library read isn’t available on audio online so I’ll have to trek out there to pick up the disks. How annoying that yours charges you for holds!