Montgomery Public Libraries

For the last few years, the kids and I have been spoiled rotten with our school libraries. Between the awesome libraries at Forest Avenue and Trinity, we had access to every children's book under the sun! Eastwood is such a new, small school that they haven't spent the time and money developing their collection. So, we've searched for a "favorite" library. First, we tried the Bell Road library. Though it's the one we went to most often, it wasn't very user-friendly. The collection was adequate and well-organized, but it is not reader-friendly (for children) and the personnel isn't very friendly. Over the summer, we tried out the downtown branch. They had a wonderful summer reading program and a decent collection of juvenile fiction books. However, the personnel is not very friendly. In August, we went to the Coliseum branch. The head librarian is very congenial and helpful. In addition, the aides are friendly too! Score! Though it was very well organized, the collection is small but adequate. We will continue to visit this branch when we aren't looking for something specific. A couple of friends told me about the Governor's Square branch. I didn't particularly care about driving down to the Southern Blvd, but finally gave in. Boy, I'm so glad I did! The kids and I went yesterday afternoon around 1. It was great. Small library, but very easy to navigate. Their collection of juvenile fiction is the best I've seen in a public library.

Harrison is always very task-oriented with his books. Imagine that!?! While there, we used the card catalog to determine if they have the one book he wanted. They did! So, we found "The Mysterious Benedicts Society and the Perilous Journey". Yeah for Harrison! Anna Grace didn't feel like going to the library and fussed throughout the ordeal. However, we found her some books, too! We got "A Cricket in Times Square", "Ramona the Pest", nonfiction on Indiana (I have no idea...), a new nonfiction picture book on animal regeneration and an easy reader. All in all, it was a big success. We will definitely go back to the Governor's Square library.

In a future post, I will explain how to access the online card catalog from home.

Happy reading,
Susanne