University Community

The University Community branch library is located in University City, a large area named for it's proximity to the University of California, San Diego. The University City community is essentially composed of two main areas and each has its own branch library. University Town Center (UTC), the region directly to the east of UC San Diego, is home to the North University Community branch, and the area has a large concentration of apartments, condominiums, shopping centers, and office parks. Divided from UTC by Rose Canyon, the southern part of University City is primarily a residential area with single family homes, and is home to the University Community branch.

I haven't been able to get an exact date on when the University Community branch opened, but I would definitely date around the 1960s or 70s, which is when many of the homes in University City were built. As with many branches, the library also serves as a community center for the area. It's a medium sized branch, and has a separate meeting room and children's area from its main center stacks and computers.

 

North Clairemont

Second only to North Park, the North Clairemont branch is one of the oldest libraries in the SDPL system that I've visited over the course of this blog. Opened in 1962, the exterior of the branch is very reminiscent of the time period, with Googie style architecture and a roof designed to look like it's floating above the building. The library was designed by San Diego architect Robert J. Platt, who also designed the current Oak Park and San Carlos branch libraries in addition to numerous residences and businesses in throughout San Diego. Accordingly, the North Clairemont branch has a similar size and organization to the Oak Park and San Carlos branches; it's around 4,000 square feet, maybe a bit less, and every part of the branch is in one main room.

Entrance and Roof of Library (photo from Roadarch.com)

While small, the library doesn't feel cramped, and is well kept despite its age. All of the main stacks are in the back left part of the building, while the right side has computer and seating areas.

Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego began to develop to its current form in the 1950s as a postwar planned community. It's primarily a middle-class residential area, inhabited by families and retirees. Clairemont Mesa area covers a very large geographic area, and the neighborhood actually has three different SDPL branches within its borders: North Clairemont, Clairemont, and Balboa.

Skyline Hills

The Skyline Hills Branch, which opened in October of last year, is the newest branch in the system. Like all of the SDPL branches built within the past couple decades, it replaces an older, much smaller branch; the previous Skyline Hills library was built in 1969 and only sized up at around 4,400 square feet, while the new branch is more spacious and obviously in perfect condition. At 15,000 square feet, the branch is a bit smaller than some of the other newer branches, but it layout causes the interior to feel bigger than its size.

The library has a very open feel, with a lot of natural light and spacious reading areas.The building is technically one story, but the ceiling is a little more than two stories high. Many sections of the walls are entirely windows that extend up to the ceiling, and the bookshelves are set perpendicular to these windows to allow light to shine into the building. In fact, the building is essentially lit completely by natural light during the day, which is pretty rare for a building of this size. Because of the ceilings, brightness, and windows, the interior of the northern section branch almost feels like it's outside. Plus, the library also has a pretty large outdoor reading area.

I think that the architecture of the building, along with the earthy tones that serve as the library's color scheme, complement the Skyline Hills and Southeast San Diego areas well. The region has a large population, but its large geographic area yields a relatively low population density compared to pretty much every other neighborhood within San Diego's city limits. In the eastern portion of Southeast San Diego, where the Skyline Hills Branch is located (it's actually the easternmost library not just in Southeast San Diego, but in the entire SDPL system), the hilly terrain, inland microclimate, and amount of undeveloped land give the area a slightly rural feel.

As I discussed in the Logan Heights post, restrictive zoning during the early 20th century yielded segregated neighborhoods in San Diego, leading Southeast San Diego to be home to a majority of the city's non-white residents during that time. Today, the region is still one of the most ethnically diverse in the city. Like many libraries in areas with sizable Latino populations, the Skyline Hills library features a section of materials in Spanish. It also has a section of Filipino materials, a further reflection of the diversity in the area. In fact, according to a 2011 San Diego County estimate, only about 40% of households in Southeast San Diego speak English only as their primary language spoken at home.

Logan Heights

The Logan Heights branch library is a uniquely new building in one of San Diego's historic communities. The present branch opened in 2009, and at 25,000 square feet is a behemoth compared to the original 4,000 square foot Logan Heights branch, opened in 1927 and located around a quarter of a mile from the new branch.

Original Logan Heights Branch Building

Logan Heights is the only branch library located in central San Diego, a region commonly considered to be bound by Balboa Park to the north, the Bay to the West, Southeast San Diego to the east, and National City to the South. Urban and working-class from its beginnings in the early 20th century, the area has one of the highest concentrations of Latino populations in the city, at 89.4% (City of San Diego, 2009). The library certainly serves a reflection of these demographics; there's a large section on the second floor dedicated to materials in Spanish, and most of the signs and directories in the library are written in both languages.

Historically, Logan Heights and Barrio Logan, which is located directly south of Logan Heights, played an important role in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Barrio Logan is the home of Chicano Park, a center of Latino protests and cultural renaissance in the 1970s. Chicano Park is only a mile from the Logan Heights library, and in one of its final acts in office, the Obama administration designated Chicano Park a National Historic Landmark.

This branch is the largest that I've visited so far. Additionally, if memory serves, it's the only two-story branch that is truly two stories, in the sense that there's no balcony or terrace that connects the two floors. I suspect the design of distinction between the first and second floors was intentional. The first floor has one of the largest children's sections I've seen in a branch, and the building was probably designed to keep the noise level down on the second floor. It makes sense that the branch would have such a large children's area; there's five different elementary and middle schools located within about a half-mile.

Valencia Park/Malcolm X

Officially known as the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch Library & Performing Arts Center, this branch was built in 1996. The library is located in Valencia Park, a neighborhood in Southeast San Diego. It's the first branch I've visited so far from that region, which includes all neighborhoods in San Diego's city limits that are south of the 94 freeway (with the exception of Otay Mesa and San Ysidro, which border Tijuana and are geographically disconnected from the rest of the city proper).

Every branch in the SDPL system has a unique feel, but I genuinely think that this branch is one of the most distinct. I was unable to find the square footage of the branch, but it's among the largest I've been to so far. The size is kind of underscored by the fact that it has a spread out/open layout, which is a rarity for many other branches that create divisions between different areas using shelves. One of the things I dislike about larger branches is that they can often feel like mazes. However, in the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch, most of the library is visible from most viewpoints in the building. The advantage to this openness is that the library feels much more relaxed than do some other branches, but the downside it's that it's harder to find secluded desks or nooks to study in, if that's what you're looking for in a library. Another unique aspect is that the library generally seems to be less busy and thus quieter than other branches. Of course, I've only visited twice, once on a weekend afternoon and once on a weekday morning, and the branch serves a large geographic area, so it's difficult to know if I've seen an accurate depiction.

The collection of books is pretty large, but not comparatively so for other branches of its size. In turn, though, there's a lot of seating and table space available. Like most libraries of its size, the branch is two stories with the second being a balcony that overlooks the first, but the second floor feels more like a stage overlooking the first floor than it does a separate terrace. It's probably about 6 or 7 feet above the first floor instead of the typical 10-12, and accordingly there's no accessible floor space underneath it, with the walls serving as shelves or desk space. There's also kind of mid-level between the first and second floors, connected to them by ramps, that has desktop computers.

This picture is from Yelp, but it gives a nice feel of the layout. This is the center of the library, with the second level straight ahead, a computer section in the center, and the circulation desk to the back of the person who took the picture.

University Heights

After visiting the North Park library, I figured it would be worthwhile to visit the University Heights branch as well. After all, they're the two branches in closest proximity to each other, sitting only a mile and a half apart.

University Heights, like North Park, grew in population with the development of Balboa Park in the early 20th century, and it today has a nice balance between a residential and urban/commercial feel. The area itself is smaller than North Park, and is bordered by canyons on its North and West sides. This relative seclusion give it a more quiet feel than many of the other neighborhoods in the Mid-City area.

The University Heights branch, built in the mid 60s, is slightly younger than the North Park branch. It's very small (I was unable to find an exact number, but I'd guess around 3,000 sq ft), and it almost has the feel of an old bungalow, with a dark interior and comfortable feel. Despite its size, the branch has a surprisingly large collection of books and especially CDs. Overall, I'd recommend visiting it if you're looking for a library in a convenient location, but not if you're looking for a quiet or secluded space to work or study.

North Park

I've been to the North Park branch library many times, and it's generally one of the busiest branches I've been to so far, especially in the afternoons. Located just a couple blocks off of University Avenue, the library has a fairly convenient location for anyone living in the Mid City area, and it's proximity to the 805 Freeway mean that thousands of people pass by it every day.

The 8,000 square foot structure was originally constructed in 1959, and while it has a sort of 60s architectural feel, neither the exterior or interior of the building seem in any way outdated. The branch is one of the libraries on the city's docket to be replaced with a bigger structure, but no concrete plans for that building or its location are in the works.

The library has a single-room layout, but different parts of the library are divided by tall bookshelves, and the somewhat irregular shape of the building creates lots of quiet and isolated nooks for reading or studying.



Around the late 19th and early 20th centuries, North Park began to be developed as a suburban community residing, as its name suggests, north of Balboa Park. San Diego hosted two World's Fairs at Balboa Park in the 20th century: the Panama-California Exposition in 1915,  and the California Pacific International Exposition twenty years later. By the 1950s, when the North Park library was founded and many small businesses popped up in the area, the neighborhood began to take on a more urban feel. Today, North Park is a diverse place, with microbreweries, restaurants, coffee shops, corner stores, and apartment complexes just blocks away from old Craftsman-style homes and public parks.