These classes were held in a hybrid environment. Some classes were online. Some were held over teleconference, and some were in person. The in person classes were the biggest challenge. While Maryland might seem like a small state, we have a lot of land - if you look all the way out through the Western Panhandle and down to the very Southern End of the state on the Eastern Shore. There is a lot of diversity to Maryland's counties, but every public librarian must go through these classes in order to remain a public librarian.
For every in person class we held, I would venture out with the other new hires from our county library in search of the LOTD. (Library of the Day) One of us was in charge of driving out there, and the rest of us piled into the car and off we went on our latest adventure.
The worst adventure was the library in a county west of us. I have a terrible sense of direction. GPS navigation has made my life so much better - no more roaming aimlessly through shifty neighborhoods, hoping to find the road I'm looking for. Ten years ago, I didn't have GPS. I had a coworker who "thought she knew how to get there".
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| You'd think it would be easy to find this place. |
I really should have printed out directions.
We were supposed to be there by 9, and we left our location before 8. We made it out to there before 9, but we weren't able to find the library. We looked and looked. Another half hour passed, and we were in the shiftiest of shifty neighborhoods. Over the screams of protest of my passengers, I stopped the car and asked a group of young men standing on the street corner how to get to the library.
After a moment of stunned silence, one of the young men told me to continue straight for 3 blocks, make a left, and the parking garage for the library was on the right - with the library across the street. He then cautioned me to "lock your doors - this isn't a great neighborhood".
(I still wonder if they were shocked that we stopped to talk to them, or shocked that I assumed they would know where the library was.)
My most favorite adventure was at the Enoch Pratt Free Library's Central Branch in downtown Baltimore. This elegant building was constructed in 1931. Filled with high ceilings, large rooms, and bright corridors, this library is the showpiece of their library system, and the State Library Resource Center for the State of Maryland. (I pulled my facts from their website, which you can find here: http://www.prattlibrary.org/history/)
Not only were we tucked away in one of the most beautiful rooms, we were allowed to explore the building at will during our lunch hour. The lobby is phenomenal - with large study spaces, chairs, and a grand piano. A large room was set aside for computers, and the children's area is phenomenally beautiful. The architecture - the columns, is it Greco-Roman? I don't know, but in many ways it reminds me of the architecture at the Met in New York City.
The Central Library is located across the street from the Basilica. (Which is another phenomenal piece of architecture!) We went across the street and explored the Basilica on our afternoon break.
Having learned our lesson with our first trip, we took the Baltimore Metro into town - which dropped us a few blocks away from the library. Clear signage led us directly to the library front doors as we got off of the Metro. I don't know that I'd want to walk that path late at night by myself, but during the day, I felt perfectly safe. The Metro in and of itself is safe and well lit. (It's just not as extensive as D.C.'s Metro.)
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