Wallingford

Entrance to the Wallingford branch library on NE 45th St

My first "home" public library was in the Hillcrest Shopping Center, a modest suburban strip mall near Pittsburgh, PA. I'd beg to go there while my mom did grocery shopping at the A&P that anchored the block, or after I'd suffered through a doctor's appointment a few doors down the way in the other direction. Eventually, the Bethel Park Public Library moved into much bigger quarters, but I still have a mental image of that snug literary port of my childhood. It came immediately back to mind with my visit to Seattle Public Library's Wallingford branch.



Library associate Christine Burgoyne adds to the window display

It's really tiny. Most of the adult seating is at computers, and there are no comfy chairs for resting with a book, so I can't really recommend this branch as somewhere to "read in the rain." There is one table for little children (with a "park strollers here" sign nearby, though I'm not sure you could fit more than one). But what the Wallingford branch lacks in space, it makes up in curb appeal. People walking by or waiting for a bus on busy 45th Street can window shop for something to read. This week, the featured volumes represent Banned Books Week, with a few Halloween titles creeping into the mix.

I also like the subtle neon signs by Ellensburg artist Richard Elliott, fitting in this neighborhood of small, mostly locally owned businesses. There's a blue world, part of the Seattle Public Library's logo; a red eye to represent mystery; a white @ symbol to represent computer access (perhaps the most important part of every library's mission these days); a green puzzle piece to evoke the gathering and use of information; and a yellow atom symbol for human knowledge.

Wallingford has had a branch library since 1949. The current location opened in 2000, tucked into the streetside corner of a building that mainly serves as headquarters for Solid Ground, a nonprofit that is working to end poverty and undo racism. This seems fitting, since libraries are a place where people without home computer access can look for jobs; where we can read some of those banned books for insights into cultures and views other than our own; and where we can generally open our eyes to the world. As the Wallingford branch shows, it doesn't take a lot of square feet to meet those goals.