It’s really been fun being back here in Peoria and going to places I haven’t set foot in in decades. And one of those places is the Peoria Public Library on the corner of Main and Monroe. I don’t think I’ve been in there since I was in high school, so I’d say I’m overdue for a visit. And yes, that pun is fully intended, let’s go check them out. And yes, the pun is...ah, nevermind.
The library is quite an impressive building. Most places that you haven't seen in years look smaller, not this place.
Let's go in and see what's happening at the Peoria Public Library.
Here's Trisha Noack, waiting at the door to meet us. Trisha handles all the public relations for the library, and seeing as we're the public, she agreed to give us a tour. Pretty cool!
The first thing I wanted to do was to get a library card. I haven't had one since I've been a teenager and was curious as to what the process was like these days. Trisha steered me to Kathy who's worked at the Peoria Library for 15 years.
There's just a little bit of paper work to be filled out...
A couple of blips and blops on the library's computer...
And baboom! My library card is ready. Actually it's a temporary card, the real thing will come in the mail shortly.
And now, library card in hand...well actually it's in my pocket, Trisha leads us on an official tour of the Peoria Public LIbrary. Sssshh, keep it down, people are reading in here!
We all know libraries have oodles of books in them but...
There's also DVD's...
Audio books...
And racks of magazines. There's also newspapers and compact discs that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of. Trisha leads a whirlwind tour and it's tough to keep up with her!
You can reserve lounging areas like this for your reading group if you have one. If you don't have a reading group, well, then hang out somewhere else.
Most of the tables are rigged up with plugs, so you can charge up your portable devices in here.
There's a skylight cut out in the middle of the ceiling that lightens up the whole place.
Here's the children's area in the library.
When I went here in the '70's, computers were only in the science fiction books on the shelves, now they dominate a good portion of this floor.
This room has ever-changing art exhibits on display.
This is an original inked Charlie Brown strip by Charles Schulz. Good grief!
Here's a cool painting of downtown Peoria back in the day. There's Bergner's on the right.
Trisha told me this section of the library is dedicated to local authors and books about Peoria.
She told me anyone who's ever written a book from Peoria is in here. I didn't see The Boy Who Would Be A Fire Truck in here, but maybe it's on back order.
Hey, what's that over there? Maybe I am represented in here after all!
Ha! Olga Swaminski on the cover of People of Peoria, a magazine I published from 1989 to 1993. This magazine kind of led me out to New York. Too cool that there's copies of it here in the library.
Wow, they have issues that I don't even have. And I have a lot of issues! (Rimshot.) I'll have to come back and do a special People of Peoria post from here soon. Stay tuned!
Here's the book store in the library where you can buy books that you don't have to return.
There's local Illinois books on sale here along with coffee mugs, t-shirts and your standard gift shop trinkets, but...
Beyond these doors are a treasure trove for any book lover.
All these books in here are for sale and the highest price you'll pay is two bucks! You can buy books here on Tuesday and Wednesday from 1PM to 4PM and on Saturdays in February.
Trisha holds up a coffee table art book on sale for two bucks. I need to come back and stock up on some books, but for now, it's check out time. Thanks so much to Trisha for the fun tour of Peoria Public Library! See you all tomorrow and hey...let's be careful out there, goddammit!
The Peoria Public Library
107 NE Monroe (at the corner of Main Street)
Peoria
309-497-2000
