Small Town Library

Through the small town of Mill Valley where young children play carefree, through narrow, twisting roads like snakes pushing their bodies to move faster, through numerous elevated redwood trees, there is a decent sized, three-story high library. This particular library is nestled among the petite hills at the bottom of Mount Tam. It nudges itself amongst the vast trees as if it were one. It plunges itself into the deep soil of Earth, so it does not slowly glide down the slope it is planted on. This is were minds become vibrant with knowledge, filled with infinite amounts of curiosity, swimming in oceans of wisdom, and ambitiously climbing mountains of inspiration. This is not some spectacular library for the large cities, or is it the library that is so small it could be the corner of someone’s house, for this is the Mill Valley Public Library.

The library emerges itself from the trees and appears right off the sidewalk at 375 Throckmorton Avenue, diagonally across the street from a small elementary school. You may infer that this noisy school for small children disrupts the quiet library, but it does not. Engulfing this library is a bubble of silence like the shell of a turtle; it protects this library from the noisy, outer world. The silence starts at the simple red brick ground off of the plain white sidewalk and crawls sturdily up the four concrete steps where each step cautiously grow longer with a long skinny black pole firmly strolling above and to the side of them. Facing the front of the library, to on both sides is two rather large granite benches. These benches, made of granite, escaped out of an old mine gasping for fresh air and found the library to quietly sit at. The walls are strict concrete that creep around the library and protect it from monstrous storms. In the middle of the front walls is a short darkening tunnel the quickly leads to the tall, glass double doors opening up to the mysterious inside.

Since the library is lodged on a hill, the second level is the core of the library. The second floor is one large, wide room that allows readers to surround themselves with peace. The floors are pure redwood matching the outside trees with light shuffles as people quietly sashay over them. The frail walls are slightly stumbling with their large loads of knowledge and divine pieces of work. Each wall is pained differently as they are splattered with many different colors of spines. In this main room various media devices and book searches are flecked around the room for those who cannot seem to find what they desire or simply for those who wish to research the world. Towards the far back wall of this room is the main reading area for those who wish to explore the realms of their book and thoroughly enjoy it. Here this is a large mouth for fired to reside in. encircling this fireplace are individual seats fit to comfort all that desire to sit comfortable. Outside this grand reading land there is a plain deck where many benches plainly sit gaping at the beautiful scenery.

Around the corner, up the small set of stairs, and into a new region, there lies the children’s district. In this room Shakespeare’s words did not inspire young ones but Dr. Seuss’ words did. It was never decorated with extravagant paint or fancy animals; it is decorated with the outside. The whole back wall is practically translucent with wide and tall glass windows. I remember being a small child and exploring this wondrous area of small easy-to-read books. This place invites children, like me when I was younger, to snatch up a book, plop down, and read. I never enjoyed reading but when I came here this room told me I could play games or could go on the computer but instead I read.

Enveloping this library is not just a forest of redwood trees and plants of all kinds, but a forest of creativity and inspiration; for this library would not be as wonderful as it was without the friendship it has made with the forest. Along the back of the library a small but vital stream flows easily and triumphantly like the little engine that could. Hidden in the forest trees is a little theater that plants itself nicely with the ground with out help form concrete but help from wood. This is a forest where young children play and stain their clothes with mud or play fetch with a real stick. This is where the library does not look modernly out of place but is friendly with the trees.

Nature is a stunning thing. It can take a plain three-story library and turn it into a masterpiece. It does not need cranes, bulldozers, and millions of dollars to look good it just looks good. This natural looking library is simple but gorgeous, and was built for people to learn and enjoy their surroundings because it uses the beauty of nature not the modern help of industry. Nature can clearly make anything look great then modernization can.

-Alex