Massanutten Regional Library

The Space and Physical Access

Massanutten Regional Library is located on the corner of Main Street in the middle of downtown Harrisonburg, Virginia. The library was founded in 1928 and has seven branches. The central library is the one in Harrisonburg. The front part of the library has a three-sided dome shape and connects with the rest of the brick building. The front of the building is surrounded by a brick and cement patio area. There is a cement stair seating area and two benches outside. WI-FI is available from outside. A parking lot is across the street and another is half a block away. The city bus also stops in front of the library. Bike racks are available outside the building. The building is handicapped accessible as there are no stairs and it has an automatic door. Once inside the front doors, there is a very bright and open foyer. This area includes book returns; free books; and information about the library and local events. Through another set of double doors is the main circulation desk. Fiction, Spanish fiction, large print books, newspapers, magazines, cd’s, dvd’s, and audiobooks are on this floor. There are comfortable cushioned chairs as well as wooden tables and chairs. There are also meeting rooms through another door on this floor. There is a basement with rooms that are used for events and activities.

Upstairs, which is accessible by stairs and an elevator, is a reference desk; nonfiction books; the children’s and young adult area; Massanutten Law Library; a Genealogy and Local History room; tables and chairs; and computers. The entrance to the children’s and young adult area is decorated with a scene from Rapunzel. Directly inside this area is an information desk and a play area with toys. There are also some computers. The young adult collections are in a separate room within this area. In the young adult section there is a study area with three computers.

Collections / Services / Intellectual Access

The nonfiction collections in the library are organized using the Dewy Decimal System. The fiction collections are alphabetical by author. In addition to fiction and nonfiction collections, the library has Spanish fiction and nonfiction; large print; resource; magazine; newspaper; dvd; cd; audiobook; and ebook collections. There is a study room with tables and chairs and about a dozen computers on individual study desks. There are two special collections in this library. There is a law library including tables and chairs. In addition, there is a Genealogy and Local History Collection room. This room was locked and a staff member was needed in order to use the materials. This collection documents the history of Rockingham County, the Shenandoah Valley and the families of these areas. The collection includes over 5,000 books, pamphlets, maps, and online resources. There is also a microfilm reader.

The children’s and young adult collections are organized alphabetically by author. The collections include books, dvd’s, cd’s, audiobooks, and ebooks. There are computers available for use in the children’s and young adult areas.

People – Patrons and Staff

This is a public library and is open to everyone. There is a very nice children’s area which is good for families with children. When I was there, I saw several families with children. There were children playing with toys, looking for books, reading books with adults and playing on the computers. This library offers story times, play times, and movement classes for children 0-5. In July a Ghost Hunt was offered for teens 12-17. This investigated the “haunted” sections of the library. Other events include, a petting zoo and story time with the Harrisonburg Turks baseball players. They also offer Family Fun Time, which may be a movie, craft event, or other activities, for all ages. This Family Fun Time is an example of “growing emphasis on serving the family as a unit (Rubin & Rubin, 2020, p. 110). In addition to families, I saw single individuals in other parts of the library browsing, reading, and working on computers. These were people of various ages, male, female, and various races.

I saw approximately eight to ten staff members the day I visited the library. They were of various ages and both male and female. There was no racial diversity. All the employees were white. Two were at the downstairs circulation desk helping patrons. There were two to four people in two rooms behind the circulation desk. One person was going through books that had been returned. Upstairs, there was one staff member at the information desk and two more in the children’s room.

Digital Access

https://mrlib.org/

The website is user friendly and easy to navigate. At the top of the page is the catalog search, which is accessible to everyone. There is a collections tab which lists all the collections available including the special collections. Ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines are available to download, but you must have a library card number in order to do so. Upcoming events for all ages are listed under an events tab. There are also video archives available that include digital book talks. Also on the website is information about free Covid tests from the library. Free Covid tests is one way that libraries are increasingly offering health information and devoting attention to improving serious health concerns for their communities (Rubin & Rubin, 2020, p. 105). Other services that are offered include, fax, notary, books-by-mail, the ability to book a librarian for help with information needs, driver improvement testing site, and interlibrary loans.

There is a tab for administrative staff with pictures, phone numbers and email addresses. There are eight staff members listed. There is a wide age range with the listed staff, seven are female, one is male, and all are white. There are also links to social media and a form to send a message from the website in order to communicate with staff.

I could not find any information on the website about accommodations for patrons with special needs or language barriers. I did see inside the library some Spanish language books and large print books.

Final Take Away

Massanutten Regional Library seems very welcoming. They have a good children’s collection and programming. It seems lots of families with young children use their services. I used to take my own children to this library when they were young. I attended many of the story times, play times and movement times with them. I was concerned with the size of the non-English collections. Harrisonburg is a very diverse city with lots of immigrants. I hope that in the near future, the library will have more diverse collections for immigrants as well as information on language translators.

Reference

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