Sunshine, Beaches, and Books

This past weekend, I visited our former coworker, Susan, who relocated to Southern Florida a couple years ago. While enjoying the beautiful beaches (and less than warm weather), Susan and I decided to make a quick stop at the Main Library of the Miami-Dade County Library System.

I was extremely impressed with the wonderful location of the library. Located just miles from the beach in the heart of central Miami, the Main Library shared a large plaza with the Miami Art Museum and the History Museum of Southern Florida. The three buildings were arranged around an enormous central plaza, that I can only imagine would not only be great for an urban lunch, but also perfect for large family programs co-sponsored by the three cultural organizations!

The interior of the library was equally impressive architecturally; however, the collection within was somewhat disappointing. (I would assume that the library system relies more on its neighborhood branches, located in places where people actually live, while the main branch is more of a figurehead for tourists.)

After searching the two floors, I finally discovered the Young Adult collection buried in the corner of Government Documents. Now, while the Young Adult collection was rather attractive, I have to question the library's decision to place in in Gov. Docs! It didn't exactly create a fun environment where teens could visit and actually be "teens"; in fact, on the day of our visit, the only person in the YA area was the library's security guard (who was sending text messages.)

The Library....Las Vegas Style!!!

In the past, my blogmates have posted library/teen services pictures from the various libraries they have visited on their vacations. Since it's been years since I had a "real" vacation, I haven't really been able to share pictures from exotic locales; however, this past weekend I spend some time in Las Vegas, and what did I happen to drive by - The Library, a small gentlemen's club just a couple miles off the Strip. Posted outside was a large "G.irls, G.irls, G.irls" sign, followed by the announcement of "Gorgeous Librarians".

Now, I love this for two reasons: first, I LOVE the whole sexy librarian stereotype. With crappy pay, horrible hours, and disgruntle patrons, we've gotta' take the few perks we can get! Secondly, I want you to take a minute and picture that frumpy, old coworker who makes your job a living hell (Jeri)...now picture him/her as an e.xotic dancer! For me, that image is priceless!

The Big Apple

So, I have not been much of a contributing member here at A True Reality lately. But I have a good excuse...I was on vacation. Whoohoo! And on my vacation I made a little stop in New York City. Naturally, I paid of visit to the public library with the oh so famous lions in the front. I was pretty darn excited about visiting the New York Public Library. Many of my favorite YA authors reside in New York so I thought surely the library would have a fabulous teen section. I envisioned myself stealing all their program ideas and passing them off as my own once I returned home. Um, yeah, so apparently the New York Public Library is not actually a lending library. It is more like a museum. Sure, I found some books on the third floor, but they were reference type books and not for checking out. I did get over my disappointment, though, once they issued me my very own library card. A library card! From New York City! Awesome.