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.

Update

Hello,

I hope anyone who may be reading this post had a nice holiday season. I apologize that it's been so long since last posting. I got busy with academic work and then left town for the holidays, so I haven't been able to visit any libraries in the past few weeks. That'll change, though, in the coming months. It certainly needs to; I've visited 14 SDPL libraries so far, so I have 21 to go in order to make my goal of visiting all 35 within a year.

Please check back on this blog at least a couple times a month, because new content is definitely coming soon. Thanks so much for reading!

Linda Vista

The Linda Vista Branch library is a mid-sized branch in the SDPL system, constructed in 1987.

Geographically, Linda Vista is essentially the heart of the City of San Diego, and several signs marking its boundaries highlight this distinction. Metaphorically, the diversity of the community also is representative of San Diego. Developed in the 1940s as a center of housing for military personnel and factory workers during World War II, it's now a primarily residential neighborhood, home to several elementary and secondary schools as well as the University of San Diego.

The library has as diverse a collection of materials in Asian languages as I've seen thus far, featuring books in Chinese, Vietnamese, Lao, and more. As you'd expect, this diversity is an apt reflection of the diversity of Linda Vista itself. The community has a large population of immigrants from Southeast Asia. In fact, the book The Gangster We Are All Looking For, by Le Thi Diem Thuy, which chronicles the experiences of a Vietnamese family seeking refuge in the United States during the Vietname war, is actually set in the Linda Vista. The book was selected by One Book One San Diego in 2011, a project run by SDPL that selects one novel each year for San Diegans to read, and then hosts events related to the book, including discussions and talks by the author.

Harold Washington Library (Chicago)

Last week, I had the chance to visit family in Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday. Serving the third largest city in the United States, the Chicago Public Library system is one of the largest public collections in the country at over 5.7 volumes. It consists of the Harold Washington Library Center and 79 other branches spread throughout the city. I decided to visit Harold Washington, the central library of the system located in the south loop in downtown Chicago.

In 1987, Chicago Mayor Harold Washington approved funding of a new central library project. Construction began a year later, and the library opened its doors to the public in 1991. Named after the first African-American mayor of the city, Harold Washington Library is has 10 floors, and even after several hours I was only able to see a small section of the building.

It was interesting seeing how the climate of Chicago compared to that of San Diego has shaped the architecture of each library's architecture. The Harold Washington library is much more self-contained; it's all in one big rectangular building that takes up an entire city block, and it's well insulated but doesn't have much natural light throughout the building. Conversely, the Central Library in San Diego has a much more open feel, with different balconies and terraces and several buildings combined into one large library complex.

What holds constant, however, is that both these libraries are some of the largest public libraries in the country, fairly new, extremely nice, and play an fundamental role in their communities.