Lexington Public Library: Central Branch

Lexington Public Library: Central Branch

140 East Main Street 

The Central Branch of the Lexington Public library has some neat stuff. There's a giant pendulum in the main lobby and an art gallery.

In the actual library finding the stairs to get around was a little frustrating (they're in the back of the children's section, I think they could be better marked).

 

I also liked that they used this giant globe (you can't see how big it in this picture, but it's huge), as an educational tool because it was outdated. I fear that some places would have just thrown it out just because some country borders have changed. Lame!

The above photo is one (!) of the rooms in the library's book sale room. Holy crap! They had so many books for sale, way more than I'm used to seeing in libraries. I mean, most libraries I go in Vancouver have like a shelf or two, but this one had multiple rooms. It was bigger than bookshops I've been to. I picked up a fantasy novel for a dollar. And while selling books isn't the real purpose of libraries, it was still awesome!

University of Kentucky: William T. Young Library

University of Kentucky: William T. Young Library

My friend told me I should go and check out this library because the architecture reminded her of a video game. From the outside it doesn't really seem that way, but once you go inside it really does.

There are these weird triangular staircases on each side of the building. These really reminded me of a level in a game like Quake (or any first person shooter really). It was actually kind of frustrating having to walk up and down them instead of just jumping.

 

There's also this weird circular central bit surrounded by a huge space. Clearly this makes it perfect for firing rocket launchers at people on other levels.

 

 

Down in the basement I found a display of Soviet propaganda posters. Awesome! They had QR codes that brought you to additional information about the posters. While "cool", it would have been nice if they just posted that on the walls for people that don't have smart phones.

 

Description:  Image of Geneva Accord broken through by a death’s-head US soldier.

Translated Text:   “The Geneva Accord is the aggressor’s bridle!”

University of Iowa Library

University of Iowa Main Library

Part of the Iowa City Zine Librarian (un)Conference happened at this library, and it was neat to get a tour of their special collections. They have a pretty cool collection of collections, including a huge one of various cooking related books (including a section devoted to mystery novels about cooking), a big science fiction fanzine collection, and a bunch of catalogue cards that have been turned into art.

Now while there is lots of cool stuff in those collections, I did have a few issues with it. They seem to treat their collections of fanzines (and comics) as though they were manuscripts. This means that they're organized by collection and box and not really catalogued beyond title of fanzine. Personally I don't really care who the zines belonged to, I'd much rather know who contributed to the zines!

Additionally their storage methods for some of their comics (unbagged, sideways in boxes) are such that I'm positive they're going to end up with rolled spines. Plus none of this stuff is on display! You have to ask to see each box individually.

They also have the zine machine! About which I've already written on another of my blogs.

Plus, unlike certain other universities we'll soon be discussing, they gave me a guest account to use on all their computers, allowing me to log in and use the internet to my heart's content. Great!