San Diego Public Library pt. 1

 While in San Diego for Bouchercon, I made a visit to the library. Because you can't put a library in walking distance and then expect me to not go there. I had a free minute before the conference started in earnest, so library it was! 

Please understand that these are just MY thoughts. I talked to a few people who worked there, but it's not like I had a tour that explained all of their choices and situations. It was just me, as a tourist, walking through and comparing it to other libraries both visited and worked in. 

The Table of Contents....so to speak

The first thing I noticed was how dark it seemed on the first floor. Most libraries seem bright and airy now so this was definitely a blast from the past.  The upper floors didn't seem quite as dark and wait until we get to the top floor! LITERALLY bright and airy, as there is an outdoor element that was to die for. But on the bottom? Kinda dark. 

Even by the windows, it still seemed kind of dark. My sister camped out here while I looked around since she'd done that already the last time we were in San Diego. 

Absolutely in love with this Local Authors section. It was right up front, where it should always be. If you're an author local to San Diego, you should see about letting them know so you can be in this area! 

        

   

NEW books.  Separated into Fiction, Non-fiction. These are the new Fiction stacks. I could have stood here all day.

And some new Non-Fiction. Because I suppose you have to have that as well or people will get mad. 

Where people put their barcodes has always been a hot topic in libraries. Someone was complaining about ours (upper left corner, I believe) just the other day. Because it covered some of the back cover copy. I like this. I wonder, though, if their scanners get confused with a barcode over a barcode. If not, this is the preferred placement. You'll never be covering up cover copy! 

The thing I noticed about their paperback section:  

A. no spine labels. I'm not sure what that means. If it was naked fiction across the board, I'm all for it. If you shelve by author, do you even need a spine label? Columbus PL convinced me that no, you do not. (I wonder if they still do it that way.). But, it's *just* paperbacks that don't have a spine label. I like that less. 

B. there are trade paperbacks in this collection. Libraries usually segregate only the mass markets. I thought that was interesting. 

AV was also on this floor. 

I was digging these displays! 

The library had lots of rooms for different things and that's just one thing I miss about large Central libraries. 

Always a source of community information

Loved these little displays throughout as well.