UNIQUE NORTHERN OHIO LIBRARIES

Excerpt from February 2009 edition of OhioTraveler by Betty Winslow

In my opinion, the best place to be during an Ohio winter is indoors with a good book, within arm’s reach of hot chocolate. However, by February, even I’m tired of hibernating. Snow or no snow, I need to get out! Often, I kill two birds with one stone by visiting the Wood County District Public Library, spending hours reading by the fireplace, chatting with friends, and going online. I love it there! 

However, there are many other libraries in Ohio worth a visit, some tucked away in places you might not think to look, including public gardens, museums, professional organizations, and universities. Specialty libraries usually welcome visitors and allow collection use during visiting hours. Some also allow borrowing, although a membership or borrower’s card may be required first. One warning: be sure to call about policies, visiting hours, admission fees, and material availability before you visit; the current economic crisis is forcing a lot of changes. 

One of my favorites is the Warren H. Corning Library, a breath of spring located at Kirtland’s Holden Arboretum. Planning future gardens here is a perfect antidote to snow! Only members can check books out, but the public is welcome whenever the library’s open. (The rare book room isn’t open to the public, but the curator might let you take a peek.) 

Look for the free landscape bulletins, too, which offer helpful gardening information. (These are also available online, at www.holdenarb.org/resources/horticulture-bulletins.asp). 

Need some fresh air? The arboretum has great hiking and cross-country ski trails –borrow a field guide and see how many animal tracks you can identify!  

If there’s a child in the house, a trip to the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library is a nice diversion.  The main branch has a really fun children’s section that can keep kids busy for hours, complete with characters from favorite stories and a huge children’s magazine section. They also have a nice eatery and gift shop.  

Then there’s the Sanger Branch Library in Sylvania, home of a reading room filled with larger-than-life scenes from author/illustrator Denise Fleming’s picture books. (Interesting trivia: Fleming got her first library card as a child at the original Sanger.) A peek-a-boo brick wall, a tree twinkling with fireflies, a fish pond – kids can spend hours here finding favorite book scenes. 

Take heart. Winter won’t last forever. Spring is on its way. When it finally arrives, a trip to the Bainbridge Library herb garden (brainchild of gardening enthusiast Kathy Catani) will banish the rest of your winter wearies. 

“My daughter worked at the library [in 1988-1989],” says Kathy, “and whenever I’d … pick her up, I’d look at that piece of ground and think what a perfect place it would be for a garden. I finally put an article in the paper asking if anybody would be interested in helping me start an herb garden there, and I got a great response.”   

These eager responders eventually formed the Chagrin Valley Herb Society, which is still involved in caring for the garden, as well as holding meetings and programs in the library.   

The garden, divided into smaller gardens (such as a culinary garden, a potpourri garden, a butterfly garden, and a medicinal garden), includes two wheelchair-accessible fragrance gardens in raised beds labeled in Braille. Personal tours can be arranged through the library.  

Many Ohio public libraries offer more than just reading material to their patrons. Here’s just a sample of unusual items that are available with a library card.

There are too many great Ohio libraries to list them all; below are a few more you can investigate on your own, plus the contact information for all the places mentioned in the main article above. Happy hunting! 

Check These Out:  

Libraries Mentioned in Article:  

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