[Publib] Around this town

[Backwage at aol.com]

The other day I was driving down Washington Boulevard in Pasadena, and  
decided to take a look into the Santa Catalina branch there.  There is  a 
branch closer to my house (Hastings), and so I don't get to Santa Catalina  very 
often.  The last time was over three years ago.
 
Pasadena has nine branches and a Central Library.  Central is a nice  
building, about as far improved as it can be considering that it has achieved  
the status of an Historical Monument and therefore is immune to any  change 
that would significantly alter the structure.  People like  Pasadena Central 
because it is old, and I admit to liking that part of it,  too.  Where else 
can you find cork floors anymore?
 
The branches were intended to be within walking distance of any residence  
in town.  An admirable goal and design for a world whose transportation  
choices are dominated by the streetcar and bus, but less good in a time when  
most people drive automobiles.  
 
Libraries, and particularly branch libraries, are political  playthings.  
They are objects to be caressed and arranged at the level of  the City 
Council; the mayor busies himself with the main temple if at all.   This is as 
true in Pasadena as it is in Los Angeles or Chicago.  Every  council district 
needs a library--not so much for the service as for the  impression of 
municipal benevolence these outlets project.
 
That doesn't bother me a bit.  In the end you get your library, for  good 
reasons or otherwise.  But the good will often fails to extend very  far past 
the ribbon cutting.  The Santa Catalina branch had its umbilical  severed 
in 1930.  That was about the same time as they were putting the  sidewalks 
down in that section of town.  Today the place is a tired  building, not very 
well maintained, hardly improved at all.
 
I tried to sit for a while in the Santa Catalina branch and found the place 
 too depressing to tolerate.  I've been in prison libraries that were  more 
appealing.  This is no fault of the staff.  All the blame goes  upward to 
the City.  The library as found is simply an aged barn--ragged,  shabby and 
without a single feature suggesting warmth or welcome.  
 
The place even insults the eye of the traveler:  its landscaping looks  
like the aftermath of a hurricane; there is an attempt at a line of roses--the  
automatic sprinklers play upon a barren slope, with their water reaching to 
the  place where the roses might have been at some point.  I do a lot of  
gardening for friends.  It would take me about eight hours to completely  
re-do the entire front of the Santa Catalina Library.  Why can't the City  take 
that time?  Roses are about twenty dollars each.  Grass seed is  
inexpensive.  Even so, the front of this place has looked bad for years--I  write that 
only because I've only driven by the place for a few years, and it  could 
conceivably have looked that way for decades.  
 
You give a look at this place, walk its floors a while, and you will  
quickly become a convert to the philosophy that the Internet is superior to the  
public library.  
 
Down the way a bit, the Hastings Branch is almost thirty years younger, but 
 still forty years old.  Even so, the place is attractive inside and  out.  
Hastings had over 138,000 annual visitors in 2006; Santa Catalina  about 
60,000.  The Hastings Branch sits in an affluent neighborhood--my own  
neighborhood, where a cheap home goes for $700,000.  Santa Catalina sits in  a much 
poorer neighborhood, even though its district contains a zone of historic  
bungalow homes.  
 
Pasadena is supposed to be a town that supports its library.  This  appears 
to be true if you consider the library to be either the huge monument  
downtown or certain of the branches, such as Hastings.  For some reason,  Santa 
Catalina branch sits neglected on its little hillock overlooking  Washington 
Boulevard and its gritty neighborhood, waiting for somebody to take  notice.
 
Michael McGrorty
**************The Average US Credit Score is 692. See Yours in Just 2 Easy 
Steps! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222376999x1201454299/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd=M
ay51009AvgfooterNO62)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20090510/254f5471/attachment.htm