Bowman Library

Space & Physical Access 

Bowman Library is situated beside Lakeside Lake in Stephens City, Virginia. There are townhouses located nearby, but overall this area exudes nature vibes. As the library is by the lake, a half mile trail named Bowman Lake Trail allows people to take a stroll that wraps around the lake itself. I visited on a nice day, so there were several people out enjoying this trail. 

Just inside the front doors there is a meeting space to the left that is able to be reserved for a variety of purposes. There are also several little tables paired with chairs that give a slight hangout feel, or perhaps a place to take a break after using the main meeting room space. After looking on the library website for more information, the meeting room is available for any groups to use. 

Inside the main library there are several tables for doing work as well as many comfortable seating options. In addition, there are also several different spaces that offer computer access to patrons. There are windows that line up all throughout the library to give patrons a view of the outside as they read, study, etc. In the picture below, the lake is a calming backdrop in which I sat to take notes during my visit. 

Services & Intellectual Access 

Rubin and Rubin (2020), in discussing services to children and youth, state that “More than 54% of all library programming is focused on children, and another 10% involves services to youth” (p. 139). During my visit I found a lot of evidence that Bowman Library fits into this statistic. I found signs advertising programs for teens, and the way the children’s section is set up definitely hinted that it was used for story times. 

As can be seen from the sign pictured above, there are several teen programs that are happening in the month of March. These are programs that I would have loved to take part in when I was a teenager. While there are distinct ties to literacy displayed here, there are also programs that indicate some larger understanding of today’s teens. A teen game night caters to interests outside of books, while the calming glitter jars program reflects the realities that teenagers carry a lot of stress and anxiety with them. 

The library collection is organized by the Dewey Decimal system, but for the fiction, manga, and media sections, it was organized by type and author/creator’s last name. For example, fiction books were labeled as “fiction” rather than given an 800 number and also included the author’s last name. Anecdotally, I have noticed that this way of organizing has been pretty much the same with other public libraries I have used. 

Patrons & Staff

There were a variety of people that I was able to observe during my visit. I was there on a Monday evening, and it was a lot busier than I would have anticipated. I noticed that a lot of patrons were using the tables and seating. A few were leisurely reading, but I also noticed that several patrons had laptops and seemed to be working. There were also quite a few patrons that were utilizing some of the many computers available to the public. 

I was also fortunate enough to observe a staff member interacting with patrons through one of the youth programs that was happening during my visit: Lego Club. A flier that lists all the youth services and programs told me that this specific program was for children ages 6-11, but I only observed the younger side of that age range during my visit. Those who were there for the program seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

I also noted that while the patrons at this library were diverse, the staff working at the library the evening I visited was not. So, despite the perhaps lacking diversity in those working at this library, they do serve a somewhat diverse community.

Collection

Bowman library has many different types of collections, and some that are even surprising to me. Of course, the library has the typical newspapers, books, CDs, DVDs, and magazines, but one thing I definitely was not expecting was the video game collection that is offered. 

As can be observed from the picture above, the video game selection is small, but it is strategically placed in the Young Adult section of the library. In thinking about this type of collection, and thinking back to the types of programming for teens this library provides, I wonder if this is just another way to get teens into libraries. That’s not to say that adults cannot check these out, but I feel the placement to be intentional. 

Digital Access

As Bowman Library is part of the Handley Regional Library System, it shares a lot of its digital presence with the region as a whole (https://www.handleyregional.org/locations/bowman). I find that the site is very easy to navigate and I was able to find out a lot of useful information. 

After spending some time clicking around on the site, I noticed that patrons can access not only the library catalog, but they also have access to databases and give access to job resources (online access allows patrons to get help with resumes, cover letters, and even interview practice through the website that has been linked). In addition to this, under the section for adults, there is also an option to email a librarian to ask for help with book recommendations or research. 

There are three staff members listed for Bowman Library, and I would say the job titles sound pretty predictable: Library Branch Manager, Information Services Coordinator, and Circulation Services Coordinator. Some of the other libraries in the region had more staff with more titles on top of these three, so I am wondering if some of the responsibilities of these librarians go beyond their job titles (and I’m going to take a guess and say that they do). 

Final Take-Aways

Rubin and Rubin (2020) explains that “public libraries today state their mission simply as striving to meet the educational, informational, recreational, and cultural needs of their communities” (p. 106). I found this assertion to be true when looking up the mission of the Handley Regional Library System (n.d.): “Handley Regional Library System provides outstanding information, resources, programs and services to enrich our diverse community.” While observing and interacting with Bowman Library, I found that it had a strong sense of providing help to job seekers (there were signs in the library itself on how to seek assistance as well as the resources that are provided to patrons on the website) and the wide variety of programs that are offered. 

I really enjoyed my visit to this library, especially as I had such a calming view of the lake during the times I stopped to take notes. While I am on the path to be a school librarian, visiting a public library was also letting me see other ways a librarian can have an impact on the community. 

While I have been able to read about the types of burnout that librarians can experience during my time in this class, I would like to know more about the daily job of a public librarian.

References

Free, A. (2022, March 14). [Photograph of the front of Bowman Library–used as cover photo]. Google Photos. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3Dy2oJFBGUa85aBJ6 

Free, A. (2022, March 14). [Photograph of lake visible from inside Bowman Library]. Google Photos. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3Dy2oJFBGUa85aBJ6 

Free, A. (2022, March 14). [Photograph of teens programming board]. Google Photos. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3Dy2oJFBGUa85aBJ6 

Free, A. (2022, March 14). [Photograph of video games collection at Bowman Library]. Google Photos. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3Dy2oJFBGUa85aBJ6 

Handley Regional Library System. (n.d.). About Handley Regional Library System. https://www.handleyregional.org/about-us 

Rubin, R. E. and Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.