For my academic library visit, I went to the Tidewater Community College/City of Virginia Beach Joint-Use Library.  Built in 2013, it has a modern design inside and out.  As I walked through the doors, the first thing I noticed was the highly polished quartz tile floor which was so sparkly and pretty.  On the left was a large information desk and directly ahead was a large staircase.  I spoke with one of the two female staff members working at the desk and learned that the ground floor is the public library space and the upstairs is the academic library. 

I decided to look at the public library space first since I was already on the ground floor and all I can say is it was amazing.  I walked along the right side of the building which curved to the left.  Bookshelves were built into the walls with fiction books organized by genre and in alphabetical order.  The hallway was quite wide and led to a large open seating area with an oversized chess set in the middle of it.  As I walked farther down the hall, I passed several study rooms, some with large wall mounted monitors and one with a 3D printer.  In the center of the space were freestanding bookshelves that held nonfiction books organized using the Dewey Decimal System.  There was also a large room for children and youth.  It was a really charming space, with large interactive play towers and low tables and chairs.  The color scheme was very beachy with blue and green hues.  There were hot air balloons and many other cutouts hanging from the ceiling.  There were several low bookshelves filled with picture books, fiction organized alphabetically, nonfiction using the Dewey Decimal System.  It was such a pleasant space, I had to sit down and take it all in.  Two young mothers were there with their toddlers for what appeared to be a play date.  They too seemed to really be enjoying the space.  As I exited the children’s room, I walked through the teen’s section and past several rows of shelves with books, videos, and audio books and additional study rooms.

Next, I headed up to see the academic library.  I walked up but there was also an elevator to allow access for those who might not be able to manage the stairs.  As I got to the top, there were low bookshelves immediately to the left with reference and test prep books.  Farther past the shelves and wrapping around the front and to the left was a large classroom space, two exercise bikes, and a large seating area.  Across from the stairs, there was an information desk where one staff member was working.  To the left were over a hundred desktop computers (Tidewater Community College, n.d.)!  They were set up on connected desks and seemed to go on forever; however, I only saw four being used.  Behind the information desk were the shelves of books.  The librarian I spoke with, said that most of the books in the academic library were nonfiction and were organized using the Library of Congress System.  Any fiction books housed there would be located in the Ps under language and literature.  Coming out of the bookshelves there was additional seating set up in front of another large row of windows.  The librarian said that they originally had more seating, but it was in the process of being replaced with ones that could be cleaned more easily.  Having to sanitize surfaces used by patrons was a side effect of the pandemic.  There were very few people in the academic library and I asked her if that was typical.  She said there were usually more students on weekdays but that numbers were not back to pre-pandemic levels.  She said that they still were unsure what normal would look like moving forward. 

Overall, this library did not disappoint.  In addition to both the public and academic library spaces, there was a nook with city, community, college, and career information posted.  There were multiple shelves with books for sale.  There was even a small café, though it was closed as a result of the pandemic.  This library has so much to offer and exemplifies how “libraries are often at the intersection of entertainment, education, and culture” (Rubin and Rubin, 2020, p. 18).

References

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

Tidewater Community College. (n.d.). Joint use library. https://libguides.tcc.edu/JUL