Traveling Librarian: West End Library in DC

My co-worker and I just returned from Washington DC and while we were there we visited a branch of the District of Columbia Public Libraries, the West End Library. It’s on the corner of 24th and L Streets in a very unassuming building. Built in 1967, this public Library was the first of the DC Library system to be air conditioned! Right now, the library has a very busy first floor with children’s area, public computers and fiction, non-fiction sections, videos and music sections. The second floor is used as meeting rooms.

We talked to the Reference Librarian at length about being a Librarian and Library things. She, Barbara, was very easy to talk to and was more than happy to talk to us. She told us a little about the history of the Library itself and told us the city wanted to move the branch to the floor above the fire station around the corner! The neighborhood, rightly so, is against that idea. Could you imagine quietly reading your magazine only to be disrupted with the fire alarm! Anyway, as many Library systems across the country, they are going through renovations, remodels, tear-downs and moves. Right now this library has a cozy atmosphere and a friendly and welcoming staff, elements that in the end are what keep patrons feeling happy and coming back.

To learn more about the DC Public Libraries, visit their website here!