Serra Mesa- Kearny Mesa

One of the newest and nicest libraries in all of San Diego, the Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa branch opened in late 2006. The library has a collection of over 50,000 items, including books and other media, and it holds a computer lab of 40 computers available for public use. The 16,000 sq ft branch, now almost ten years old, is more than three times the size of the old library Serra Mesa branch that it replaced.

Entrance

The library also houses an office for the the San Diego Workforce Partnership's Metro Career Center. The center offers numerous resources both online and in-person for job searching, such as job boards and job search workshops.

Stacks

The library is located on Aero Drive, a major east-west road that essentially extends between the 163 and 15 freeways. The road also essentially serves as the border between Kearny Mesa to the north and Serra Mesa to the south. Kearny Mesa is primarily a commercial area, home to many retail centers, office parks, government agencies, and the Montgomery Field airport. Serra Mesa, to the south of Aero Drive, is much more residential, home to around 24,000 San Diegans. Check out the aerial photo below and notice the airport to the north, homes to the south, and the library (circled in red).

Aero Drive

Mission Valley

The Mission Valley library is one of the newer and larger branches in the system, built in 2002 and sitting at around 20,000 sq. ft. Due to its central location in Mission Valley, its proximity to a trolley stop and major retail stores, its ample amount of space, and its large collection of books, computers, and other resources, this library is probably the busiest branch in the SDPL system that I have visited so far, not including the Central Library.

View from the Stairs to the 2nd Floor

I visited on a Tuesday, and I can only imagine how busy the library is on weekends. Nevertheless, the size of the library and the many different rooms and patios extending off of the main room provide ample quiet and secluded spaces. The architectural structure of the building is similar to that of the City Heights branch in that the library consists of one large room with a tall ceiling and a terrace at the back of the library that overlooks the main floor.

View from the 2nd Floor Balcony

The second floor also has a nice covered outdoor seating area.

Outside Seating on the 2nd Floor

Mission Valley is an interesting part of the city. It's certainly not what would be considered a traditional "neighborhood," although there are an increasing amount of apartment complexes and condos being built in the area. Yet, it's an area where people from all over the county congregate-- it's the location of Qualcomm Stadium, where the Chargers and SDSU Aztecs football team play their home games, it houses two of the biggest malls in the city, Mission Valley and Fashion Valley, and it geographically sits at the heart of the city boundaries. It is easy to see, then, why the SDPL system invested in building a large library in this area.

Stacks

Pacific Beach/Taylor

Only a three minute walk from Mission Bay and a five minute walk from the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Beach/Taylor library is surrounded by the cool, soft, slightly salty breeze that beachfront residents know so well. Although I've yet to visit the La Jolla or Ocean Beach libraries, I suspect that the Pacific Beach/Taylor branch is likely the closest in distance to the shore. It is flanked on the west and south by coastline, both shores located within a quarter mile of the library.

Also, a general note: I'm going to start taking more photographs at the libraries, because my short descriptions don't really do them justice. In general, I've been avoiding taking pictures because I don't want to invade people's privacy, even if it's in a public place, but I can get by taking pictures of exterior areas, meeting rooms, or secluded stacks of books. If nothing else, at least those pictures will give a feel for the interior design of a branch, if not help the viewer to picture its layout.

Main Entrance

It is clear that the architecture and design of the library was planned with the beach at the forefront. The 12,500 square foot structure is designed in a the shape of a nautilus shell, and the shell pattern permeates through the layout of the building through arrangements of the interior design and artwork. Surrounded by various outdoor seating areas, library has numerous windows and no shortage of natural light, including a large skylight that stands over the main circulation desk.

Multipurpose Room/Gallery

The library block also has a small park with grassy hills and sand pit.

Grassy Area

Sand Pit

Pacific Beach is one of the older neighborhoods in San Diego, but holds a youthful vivacity due to its young population and vibrant nightlife. It is home to many college students and young professionals, in addition to families and older folks. This beach itself has a beautiful boardwalk and is a favored area for surfers and other beach-goers, and many popular bars, restaurants, and shops line Garnet Avenue just steps from the shore.

Special Visit: UC San Diego Geisel Library

Although not affiliated with the San Diego Public Library System, the Geisel Library is one of the most iconic structures on the University of California San Diego campus, as well as in the city of San Diego as a whole. It is one of the two buildings that compose the UC San Diego Library (the other being the Biomedical Library, located about a 5 minute walk away in the med school), and was constructed in the early 1970s. Originally known on campus as Central Library, in 1995 the structure was named after Audrey and Theodore Geisel (the latter more commonly known under his pen name, Dr. Seuss), who were generous benefactors to the library.

The building consists of eight floors, though the main entrance to the library is on the second level and the third level consists only of an outdoor patio and much of the concrete frame that holds the structure. The first floor is actually underground, and is home to much of the staff only areas, computers and media viewing areas, and specialty material storage such as journals and music score. The second floor is the main entrance to the library and home to different information and assistance desks. The floor contains two large wings, east and west, which each have computers and printers. The west commons on the second floor also holds the special collections and library archives. The fourth through eight floors hold the majority of the library's collection, and also have tables and study rooms around the perimeter of the floors.

Overall, it was an interesting comparison for me to explore the Geisel library after visiting seven SDPL branches thus far. Even without observing the general demographic of the patrons in the building, there is a clear distinction between an academic library at a research university, a library built to enable past knowledge to be studied and shaped into ideas of the future, in comparison to a public library, designed to provide resources to the local community that extend beyond the cover of a book or the dimensions of a screen. Both kinds of libraries have their unique strengths and goals, and visiting them both gives me an appreciation for how broad the role of libraries in our society really extends. 

For more information on the Geisel Library, visit them online:

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/about/us/geisel-building.html

Oak Park

The Oak Park library is another one of the smaller branches of the SDPL system, serving the Oak Park community. Similar to the Mission Hills and Balboa branches, it consists of one big room and has a section of desktop computers and tables in the center, with bookshelves surrounding on the perimeter.

The library is located only three miles south of San Diego State. Oak Park is an older area in Southeast San Diego, consisting of single-family homes and apartments/condominiums alike. It is a working class neighborhood, and one of the most ethnically diverse regions of the city. This diversity is shown in the book selection of the library, which features tests in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Cambodian, among other languages.

In 2014, the famous Democratic Georgia congressman and civil-rights leader, John Lewis, actually spoke at the Oak Park library, discussing in part how he was unable to receive a library card as a child due to the segregation prevalent in the rural Alabama. His address to the library and residents of Oak Park and other areas centered around the importance of education and of tolerance in creating a more cohesive and peaceful society. Looking at the Oak Park library and the patrons it served, it is clear that the library is meeting this lofty goal.

Photo from San Diego Free Press

Link to San Diego Free Press article on John Lewis:
http://sandiegofreepress.org/2014/03/civil-rights-icon-john-lewis-at-san-diegos-oak-park-public-library-in-this-place-the-beloved-community/

Point Loma/Hervey

Completed in the fall of 2003, the Point Loma/Hervey branch library was the first new library completed through the SDPL's $300 million library rebuilding measure. Measuring up at nearly 26,000 square feet, the library is five times the size of the previous Point Loma branch and, according the the City of San Diego, holds over 80,000 books and other materials.

As its name suggests, Point Loma is is a peninsula that borders the Pacific Ocean, San Diego Bay, and San Diego River. It's home to the Cabrillo National Monument, a national cemetery, and three military installations, in addition to residential and commercial areas. Geographically, Point Loma is an extremely large yet condensed area, and the region contains several different neighborhoods within itself.

In 2006, San Diego Magazine named the Point Loma/Hervey branch the best public library in the city. A reflection of Point Loma's proximity to the ocean, the library has a nautical theme. The lower level of the library has a faux ship hull with a mast that extends to the the upper level, and the ship serves as part of the library's children's section, which is the largest in SDPL system. The library also has a nice rotunda that serves as the entrance, and a mosaic map of Point Loma on the ground below.

With its size, the library obviously has a large collection of materials. I was interested to find a section of books on military history and life, as well other as other resources for veterans and military families.

https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/about-the-library/projects/pointloma

City Heights/Weingart

In the short time period in which I've been visiting different library branches and experiencing the facilities and opportunities available in them, the most apparent conclusion or overarching theme I've deducted from the different branches is that the San Diego Public Library system really molds itself to fit the needs of the different communities it serves and of changes characteristic of 21st century life. No branch that I have visited thus far, however, embodies this idea more than the City Heights/Weingart branch library.

Though in past decades known as one of the most neglected communities within San Diego, in recent years the local community in City Heights, assisted with funding from various government agencies as well as private benefactors and philanthropic foundations, has unified to revamp the communities' public infrastructure and resources. This development has centered around the City Heights Urban Village, a redevelopment project complex with public parks, retail stores, restaurants, affordable housing, a police station, and the Weingart branch library.

The library is a large branch at nearly 15,000 square feet, an apt size to serve what it, according the City Heights Initiative (more information below), the most densely populated community within San Diego. According to KPBS, around the library has around 239,000 patrons annually, and it ranks fourth in the entire SDPL system for public computer usage.

My favorite part of the library is the open feel and natural light coming from the second level. The library has a second level that feels like a loft with lots of seating areas, individual study spaces, and group meeting rooms.


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For more information, check out the City Heights Initiative website:
http://cityheightsinitiative.org/