In our nearly 20 years together, M. and I have always lived within walking distance of a library. I suppose this was always a bit of a coincidence -- perhaps libraries are often sited near the kind of semi-urban density that we appreciate. Or maybe we're just a couple of big honkin' geeks.
Alas, we're now only within walking distance if, like me, you like to go out and walk a few miles for fun -- the library is a mile and half or so away. I guess maybe I'll have to start bicycling down there; it'd be a shame to fire up the car for such a short trip.
In any case, after less than a week living here, we hied ourselves down to the library and got ourselves cards. Of course, after years of living up the road, we already had LA County library cards, but Pomona maintains its own library, separate from the county.
As far as I can tell, this is a good thing. The various county library branches nearby are all pretty small, and the Pomona library is pretty large, as befits a city of something like 150,000 people. There are something like 300,000 volumes, what looks like a reasonable reference section, and even a little computer room with 20 or 30 machines downstairs.
We actually had a chance to try out the computers, as our DSL took forever to get installed. We spent a pleasant half-hour checking the web, surrounded by a packed room of teenagers. The connection was quick and the computers reasonably up to date. I've certainly paid for worse connections in Internet cafes.
Hopefully, we'll be able to check out some actual books soon; the way things are going, they might all be about home repair and lawn maintainance. :-(
[Started last weekend, posted today...]
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