Today I had to venture out of my cave to do some work. I was not happy about leaving my cave but when the cleaning lady comes it's best I get out of her way. (Sonia rocks by the way.)
Anyways, Santa Monica has a pretty good city WiFi network and I went to put that to good use at the brand new spanking library on 7th Street. I used to love libraries as a little kid but once I started high school, hanging out at the library on a Saturday afternoon was just not cool. Then by the time I was in college, we had the internet so I pretty much stopped going to the library altogether.
But I wanted to give this one a try because I was craving a quiet workspace (the espresso machines in Starbucks are too loud) and a free internet connection.
Sadly, my time at the SMPL was not good.
First, the building has a subterranean parking garage. This is good because you can always get a space there whereas the meters on the streets are limited. But it's bad because you have to PAY for parking. At the FREE public library. Grrr. It's .50 cents for a half-hour and a $10 maximum. Grrr.
Whatever, I tried to keep things positive as I stepped into the library. It's a great space, architecturally and functionally. Plus it has a little coffee cafe and outdoor patio.
So I sat down at one of the workspaces and found the cushioned chairs comfortable and was amped about the plentiful outlets. But no sooner than I had gotten all settled in did I realize this wasn't going to be the peaceful workspace I desired.
Since I'm wiped out and tired to organize my thoughts most effectively, I'm just gonna give you some quick observations/complaints about the place.
Observation #1: Nobody remembers that a library is supposed to be quiet.
A senior citizen answered his phone and began yapping away. Leading my desk mate and I to exchange glances and scoff. I asked, "Isn't this a quiet section". He said, "Apparently not." Another girl also hollered to her friend on the other side of the room. I shushed her. Yeah, I'm that person. Also some kids in a "study group" were at the table behind me. But they were chattering more than studying. Since I was a giggly study group gal myself I decided not to shush these kids.
Observation #2: The DVD/VHS rentals should be closer to check-out and not near the "quiet" workspaces.
I love that the SMPL offers movie rentals. But they need a better location for them. It was 12:30pm and a swarm of people were over at the DVD/VHS rental stacks. And they were talking to each other about what to get. But what's worse is that all the movies are in these plastic cases that make noise everytime you pick them up and put them back on the shelf. God, I wish I had a tape recorder. It was loud. I did my best to capture the swarm above.
My deskmate and I stared at these people searching for movies with utter contempt. We did this from time to time. We would work on our computers for five minutes, then when the picking up and putting back of plastic cases got loud again, we would look over and stare.
Note: A lot of old people have DVD players. I thought they used VHS and even thought that was a stretch for them.
Observation #3: A lot of people in Santa Monica rent movies from the library. We'd hate to see this place on a Friday afternoon.
So that's my experience at the library. I would give the place another chance. Maybe Monday is just a busy day for the place. But I was annoyed that the internet connection was not strong enough for IM and I cannot live/communicate without IM.
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