Stone Center logo

Raquel Von Cogell, the librarian in the Stone Center Library, gave a tour of the library today at 2. This was my first time in that library – in fact, my first time in the Stone Center building. The library is very nice, small (we estimated around 3,000 sq ft), but with very spiffy new furniture, beautiful wood shelving, and wired carrells and wireless access. Raquel said that there’s room for 10,000 volumes (I think I remember that correctly), & the shelves are maybe half full. It was a pleasant change to see a library with room for expansion. Though I have to say, it was also kind of weird, to see so many empty shelves in a library – that doesn’t happen very often! Raquel has her work cut out for her… but I’m sure it won’t take long for her to fill the shelves. The periodical shelves were actually completely empty, & Raquel said that she planned to not purchase any serials until the new ILS system is in place. The library also has 2 public-access computers & 2 very nice meeting rooms. Someone asked if the meeting rooms can be reserved, but Raquel said it’s just first-come-first-served. I wonder how long that will last. A few of the tour attendees (tourists?) commented that there should be more art on the walls. The library has big open swaths of wall with nothing on them. Raquel said that she wants to turn the place into something of an art gallery, which would be extremely cool. Plus it has some nice views out the windows. Just don’t look down, or you’ll be looking into a parking lot. The library had some users while the tour was going on, but it was actually quite quiet – the library is so new, I think it’s probably largely undiscovered, & most of the very spiffy new chairs and tables were unoccupied. So if you want a space to work in quiet, go there. Of course, by telling you to go there I’m to blame if it stops being a quiet place to work. But nevertheless, go. It’s a great space, & promises to be a terrific small library.