Carnegie Library, Oakland

With famous industrialists-turned-philanthropists Frick and Carnegie, Pittsburgh is a city with some really fabulous architecture. We live across the street from a neo-romanesque church (which I didn't even know existed as a style) and campus is full of the neo-gothic style. But the Carnegie complex, which houses the original Carnegie Library (Free To The People), with it's grand looking entrance, is decidedly neo-classical.

Inside, the library, there are some really neat features including: access to an enormous consortium (thereby enriching my life with even more books); extremely helpful librarians, so that ordering new books is relatively simple (though the Circulation staff tends to be a tad surly); and one of my favorite features, a 'World Fiction' section. It's on the ground floor, with the other new book sections, and since I know you're dying to hear what those sections are, I'll tell you: fiction, non-fiction, mysteries, horror, science fiction, gay and lesbian, short stories, biographies and African American, plus, of course, paperbacks, new or otherwise.

World fiction is supposed to include new translated fiction, though in that idiosyncratic way that computer databases are updated, I've found the newest book by an author back in the 'regular' fiction stacks, while their second newest is still out in the 'world fiction' section, but whatever. As long as I find new authors, I don't really care. I really appreciate this section, because otherwise, I would never find these books. So little gets translated into English, that if they weren't rounded up into a separate section, I'd glance right past them while browsing the shelves. And nobody wants that!

However, being a library lover, means I'm a little compulsive about visiting the library. I've already maxed out my hold list (set at 50), and I'm continuously in danger of maxing out my checkout limit (also 50). Which is why my reading list is never truly current: I'm too busy reading to update. But how can you pass up all those books? Plus, there are all the movies and CDs. There just isn't enough time in the day.

Posted by Leah | Permalink