Back log

I hadn't transcribed observations from the past two weeks. From the week of the 2oth:

10/20/08
4:35
I managed to leave work a little early today, so I can get a look at the library a little bit before rush hour. The hours are very limited here: M 'till 9, T, W "till 6, TH 'till 9, FRI 'till 6.

The readings for this week havr focused on territoriality, privacy, and social interaction.

First Impression: the crowd is a little younger today.

-At the low, kid-sized chair next to the Test Prep shelf, a woman no older than 25 was leafing through magazines.

-I'm at the table nearest the librarian's desk.

-behind me, a yound male is studying for the LSAT.

4:40
-two middle-aged white men walk in and spread out. Both [are] kind of scruffy.

-a man 30ish is reading the Herald next to the fireplace to my right.

-a couple, 40s-50s entered and [are] perusing the new book rack together.

-I'll try a diagram of the space.

-It'll have to be bigger next time.

4:55
-Checking [the] browser history on one of the computers:

Most visited:
SOMERVILLE LIBRARY
MYSPACE
FEDERAL STUDENT AID
GMAIL

Also visited:
CNN.COM
HUFFINGTON POST
AOL.COM
YAHOO.COM
POLITICO.COM

5:01
I realize I left my phone at the computer. I walk over to get it, smile at the woman on the computer, who smiles back. "Your phone...I just noticed it..."

-The crowd is still relatively young.

-The same librarian from the two last times.

-The people around me have left.

5:14
-The place has really emptied out.

5:25
All the computers are taken. A few people are sitting & reading.

-I'm at a bit of a loss. I'll have to work out a questionnaire for Thursday, maybe talk to some people.

From 10-27-08

10:27 8:27
-Today I'm here a little later. It's all men here. Including myself and the two librarians, 6 total. The patrons are all 30+. A white-haired man is reading the New York Times where I usually sit. The "best" computers are taken: ie. You don't have your back to the main entrance.

-A mother and small child (no more than five) enters. I'm at the the far end of the building, and the toddler's babbling cuts through. She is shushed twoce by her mother.

-At the back of the library, by the science fiction and romance section (yes, they are adjacent), someone left a Mad Magazine open to a two page spread parodying mixed-martial arts. Looks like there's a new generation of talented renderers at the publication.

-The librarian has a hushed conversation with the toddler about Halloween. They were coming up from downstairs, I think.

-I'd intended to include more physical description of the space:
Outside, the library is set back from the street about 30 feet. The concrete entry walk is flanked by well-maintained but generic landscaping enclosed by 36"high wrought-iron fences (newer). The massive double doors are framed by a classical pediment supported by fluted IONIC columns, a pair.The same columns are on the inside, non-fluted, in wood. There are stone lamps on the pediment and an arched window above the door. The stone seems to be limestone, surrounded by thin-coursed (Roman?) bricks of a tan sandy tone. The facade is "one story," in the classical architectural language, though the building inside is two stories, with a basement.

-There are nine granite steps leading up to the doors, with no intermediary landing. The stairs are about 10' wide and flanked by lamp posts. An American flag is hung from a flagpole over the door.

-The double doors are solid wood, about 36" wide and 8' tall each, or taller. Two panels and a single light at the top, higher than any person could see out. They are stained a lighter color, perhaps they are oak. They open outward. Today the weather is nice and one is propped open.

-The vestibule is about 10' by 15.' On the left, stairs curve downward, to the right, they curve up to a landing over your head, and then follow the curve of the lower stairs up to the second floor. The stairs are of a dark, fine-grained wood. And creaky. The robust newels have a spiral (Solomonic?) pattern carved in to them.

-To the left is a community message board. Ahead is double glass doors, solid wood frames, over 7-8 feet tall, stained dark, flanked by side-lights. A glass transom finished out at about 10 feet over head.

-An 8-1/2 by 11 sheet printed out from a PC says "Please turn off your cell phones" in a font that fills the page. On the right-hand door, a faded, neatly lettered hand-written note says "pull."

-The central [hall] I described a little bit earlier. It is a square enclosure framed by 10' ionic columns and pilasters of dark wood. They support an intricately detailed plaster entabulature (some peopl just call these "mouldings," but I see a three-part system of mouldings in the classical order: architrave/ frieze/cornice). the architrave is painted a neutral beige. the rest is painted white with brass-colored accents. A large rossette in the ceiling surrounds a brass chandelier that looks more modern. There appears to be empty sockets for bare light bulbs, a la Grand Central. The floor is largely square white tiles with green tiles forming a Grecian motif around the edges.

-Time to go.