Library Walk Through

The Scotts Valley Library is located right next to the Scotts Valley Community Center, Scotts Valley Senior Center, and a performing arts center. It shares a wall and a parking lot with the performing arts center. The entrance to the parking lot is not clearly labeled for either of them. Approaching from town, the word "Theater" is in large letters on the building. The word "Library" is in the same large letters farther down, not clearly visible from the parking lot entrance. There is no other parking lot entrance, only a one-way exit. That said, the parking lot is quite large. Outside the Library is a standard large metal book drop. Walking along the building towards the door, several windows are colored glass.

Next to the door, separated by a wall, is the "Friends" corner, which includes a bulletin board full of announcements, several magazines, local papers, brochures, and more practical items like voter registration cards and directories of services for veterans. Most of these resources are provided only in English. There is also a bookshelf labeled "Books for sale" with a small metal box that says "Donate to Friends of the Library here". This seems to be a self-serve bookshop, but there are no clear instructions confirming that or stating expected user behavior. Next to the "Friends" section is the "Holds" shelf, which also appears to be self-serve, and next to that are two self-checkout stations

Beyond those services, the library building opens up into one large room. The ceiling is high with no secondary-ceiling, giving the room an open feel. Air ducts are somewhat obscured by hanging panels. Lighting includes large ring lights and smaller spotlights. There are also several small skylights in the ceiling, but most of the light comes from the tall windows, with some walls being completely made of glass.

There are three signs pointing to the restrooms, two of them with arrows. There is one family bathroom, a women's bathroom with one disabled stall, two standard stalls, and two sinks. I can only assume that the men's bathroom is similar. There is no all-gender bathroom. In the hall between the two, there are two water fountains at different heights and a water-bottle filling station.

The bookcases are tall, most having six shelves, roughly seven feet tall, and books are shelved top-to-bottom. The ends of rows sometimes contain small displays, but are most often not used for books. Instead, they may have catalog computers, handouts regarding library services, and posters for programs such as their laptop lending program. There are various posters throughout the library, such as one advocating for diversity in collections and a few variations on "SVPL stands against hate". Some end caps also have a small stack of grocery baskets sitting on the floor that patrons can use in the library.

The library provides an abundance of handouts with general information, such as branch hours, or more specific information, such as one advertising the library's "Sound Swell" program, a database providing access to music by local artists. Most of these handouts are only in English.

Straight ahead is "The Fireside Room", a large community room, and "The Commons", an open area full of communal study tables. The Fireside Room is a massive community room with a fireplace on one wall and a large tv screen on another. The room contains many rolling chairs at several tables, some of which are equipped with outlets.

Outside the Fireside Room is a wall devoted to magazines. The latest issue is displayed inside a protective binder that may not be checked out. They have popular titles, such as Time, Vogue, and The New Yorker, and niche interest titles such as Runner's World, Popular Mechanics, Fine Woodworking, and Architect's Digest. They also have a few magazines for specific communities, such as ADDittude for the neurodivergent community, and Out for the queer community.

"The Commons" is a communal study space with several tables featuring outlets and individual lamps. Some are at a standard table height, and others are around bar-counter height. At the tables are swivel chairs that can be adjusted to either height. Larger recliner chairs are scattered around at the ends of tables, and there is an electronics charging station. This area also contains the printer, copier, and computer bank. There are no signs advertising the library's wifi or instructions for how to access it.

To one side of The Commons are two private study rooms: Room A, which has a conference table and several chairs, and Room B, which has a smaller four-person table with chairs. They are painted in bright red and orange respectively, with the wall facing out made of glass. Instructions for how to reserve rooms are posted at the doors.

Behind The Commons, outside the library, is a patio with tables and umbrellas and a variety of benches, adult-sized chairs, and kid-sized chairs. The patio is enclosed by a solid wooden wall that blocks the surroundings, as the area around it is an overgrown vacant lot, but there are large flower bushes inside the walls. There is no signage pointing to the patio or indicating that patrons may go out through the doors leading to it.

The teen section is in the back corner and occupies about ⅙ of the library. It has no surrounding walls separating it from the rest of the library. The space is comprised of bookshelves of young adult content, their own computer bank, chairs and tables, and a large amphitheater-style sitting area with three tiers. Around the edges of the top platform are private booths, and at the very back is a ramp up to the top level.

The children's section occupies about ⅓ of the library. It includes lots of small tables and chairs, a long bench along the outer wall, and a discovery wall for small children. Beyond some bookshelves is an area for older children with another computer bank and their own study table similar to the ones in the adult section with outlets and lights. This area is also completely open to the rest of the library.

There is no directional signage in the library to help the patron find what they're looking for. Various areas of the library are named, Such as the "Kids Zone" and "Express Check out", and the different areas of the library have strong visual signals defining their use, but there is no directory to point patrons towards a particular section of the collection except for directories on the endcaps listing topics and Dewey decimal ranges. There are signs on top of some bookshelves labeling that section, such as "Audiobooks" or "Adult fiction". However, these signs are relatively small, and are often obscured by other shelves or by the large paper mache animals that sit on top of many bookcases. Additionally, as most bookshelves are parallel to the entrance, the signs are not visible until one walks ten or more steps into the library and looks to the sides. All permanent signage in the library is presented only in English. Very few posters included Spanish translations, and the ones that did were mostly facing backwards with the English side forwards.

There were usually two staff members at the information desk. The head librarian was roaming the library handling various tasks, and another staff member was reshelving books. At one point, one of the staff at the information desk helped a patron locate a book. The closing announcements are presented inconsistently in either English or English and Spanish. On two trips, hearing both the fifteen minute and five minute announcements, two were in English and two were in both languages.

Nothing seems misplaced. The self-serve hold section is located right next to the self-checkout kiosks, and both the printer and copier are in a corner of The Commons. Likewise, none of the space feels underutilized. The space between the information desk and the holds/self-check out is occupied by two rolling bookshelves, one containing "new" books, and the other their "lucky day" books.

Stuck onto one end of the biographies shelf is an area labeled "Special Needs Resource Center", a collection created by the Friends of the Scotts Valley Library (Friends of the Scotts Valley Library, n.d.). About a third of the books located there are about babies and parenting. The rest is a mix of some books by disabled and neurodivergent authors about their own experiences, and some written by able bodied neurotypicals. Their books related to neurodivergence use ableist language and promote early intervention and Applied Behavior Analysis. The effort is notable, but they have largely missed the mark, starting with the "Special Needs" name, a term the disabled and neurodiverse communities reject (Stimpunks Foundation, n.d.). A better approach would be for the Friends to partner with the autistic community, learn the history and impact of terminology, and design the "resource center" accordingly without ableist misinformation. One could argue that this is flirting with censorship, however, it is no different from libraries curating their collections about other oppressed groups. Having a book that insists that, scientifically, POC are inferior, and that the solution is eugenics is a choice a collection developer could make. Having half their POC collection be those kinds of books is also a choice. Choices regarding content about disabled and neurodiverse individuals are no different.

Commendations and Recommendations

Commendations

Locating the information desk directly in front of the library entrance ensures that visitors will have no problems finding help if they need it. Providing shopping baskets for patrons is a great convenience for all, especially patrons with strength or motor function difficulties, such as disabled or elderly people. The Friends' self-serve bookshop and the self-serve hold shelves demonstrate a great deal of trust in patrons. The use of soft and natural light is greatly helpful for patrons with sensitivity to light and provides a welcoming environment. The patio is a great addition to the space, particularly in an area with a Mediterranean climate.

Recommendations

The biggest improvement the Scotts Valley Public Library could make is signage and wayfinding. The parking lot entrance is unmarked, and it is easy for someone who has never visited to drive right past it. Given the height of most of their bookshelves and the decorations on top of many of them, short signs sitting on top of the shelves are ineffective. Hanging signs, in the same way the decorative panels are hung from the ceiling, would be much more visible. A directory facing the entrance with arrows pointing which way to go for different sections of the collection would also be incredibly useful. The library's wi-fi is also not advertised anywhere, nor are there instructions for accessing it. Signs containing this information, particularly in The Commons, would be extremely helpful. 

Most areas of the library are named and clearly labeled, which is one place where their existing signage works well. The exception to this is the patio. Unlike all other distinct areas of the library, the patio has no name and no label. Likewise, there are no paper signs posted in the windows inviting patrons to come outside. The only sign is a red "exit" sign over the door, and while it is not marked as an emergency exit, the lack of acknowledgement makes it seem off-limits. A name and large sign as found throughout the rest of the library, as well as smaller signs pointing the way, would make the patio much more inviting.

Another consideration is the exposed nature of the children's and teen's sections. While having most of the library open as one large room provides a feeling of spaciousness and ease of movement, it also means that any noise made in these sections will carry throughout the entire library. Children and teens need space to interact naturally, and ironically, the open floor plan restricts them from this. YALSA's National Teen Space Guidelines 3.4 and 5.5.d state that teen spaces should allow for the noise that teens naturally make without disrupting the rest of the library (YALSA, 2012). Glass walls enclosing those sections, similar to the ones separating the private study rooms from The Commons, would preserve the openness of the space while also allowing children and teens more freedom from traditional noise restrictions. The library already has a heavy emphasis on glass and colored panels in its design, so these glass walls would not seem out of place.

Finally, adding an all-gender restroom would make the library more welcoming to trans and gender non-conforming patrons.