Hoffman Estates Branch - pt. 1

One of the funnest things to do for this blog is visiting new libraries, and a library not too far from home that I had never been to was the Hoffman Estates Branch of the Schaumburg Township District Library. Indeed, it's been so long since I last even considered going there, the branch was still inside the village hall back then!

Now the branch has its own building just down the street from where it used to be. The design seems to suggest that this branch has history to it, as if the original building was the blue part and it had brick extensions added later (when I'm pretty sure this was actually all built at the same time).

I always like seeing book returns located conveniently by the main entrance, and having two slots is twice as good as one. A sign reminding bicyclists to to lock up their vehicles seems a nice gesture, though a similar sign for car enthusiasts is missing.

Just inside the entrance is a circulation desk (not pictured), with a registration desk next to it, and next to that is a wall-mounted monitor showing a rotation of programming, as many other libraries have now. It is complemented by old-fashioned signage, including one (on the far left) for a citizenship class. 

Unusual (in my experience) is a circ desk with seating for patrons in line. Here are two chairs opposite the circ desk. Also pictured are circulating umbrellas (I always love it when libraries have those), and -- something I don't talk about enough -- a very obvious AED displayed right by the front entrance.

Around the corner to the right of the entrance is a general purpose meeting room. It's a bit smallish, but that's typical of branch libraries. You can also see how there is no separate room for storage, so things like extra tables are stored right there in the room.

This is all you'll see of the children's area (since the rest was occupied), but I wanted to show the shelf toppers. Many libraries decorate their children's area, either all with one theme or just with as much stuff as possible. Here, the shelves out in the open have these 2D cutouts (cardboard? I forgot to feel them) of popular children's characters. Only the shelf at the back has something different, the row of stuffed ducks.

The graphic novel section is pretty good for a library of this size. I focused on Bone -- you have to have Bone, of course, but it also shows part of their anime collection, which includes a complete collection of Dragonball and Dragonball Z.

Not far from the graphic novels are these framed posters. I'm not sure why G-Man is so well-represented on some library walls, but is so hard to find in their collections. Of the three Schaumburg libraries, only the Hanover Park branch has G-Man on their shelves.

This is the teen area and, while walled in, they have wisely kept doors off the room (why would teens want to feel trapped in an enclosed space?). The branch subscribes to all the same magazines as the main and other branch libraries, but at this branch I was told they were non-circulating. I guess I'll be going back to the Hanover Park branch soon...