So I'm at the new library branch

over at Palumbo and Man O'War, the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library. Here are some first impressions:

Pros:
1. Very light and airy, open and inviting.
2. More room for books and other materials! (The new building has 32,000 square feet, according to the bookmark I'm looking at. I'm not sure what Eagle Creek had, but it is much bigger).
3. They kept a stained glass window from the old building, which was a nice touch.
4. They did an excellent job of turning a former car dealership into a library.
5. There is a drive-up window for picking up holds. I think (although I'm not quite sure where it is yet) the book drop is also drive-up.

Cons:
1. There is at the moment absolutely no signage to guide you to where you want to go, not on the shelves and not above or around various areas. Now granted, that is probably going to change--it's only the second day of being open. When you first go in there are CDs and videos. The new books are in a hall going to the adult collection. The computers are tucked into an area east of those. There's an upstairs that contains meeting rooms and a maker space, but I have no idea at the moment where the children's section is, as I haven't completely made it through the building.
2. The parking, is well, a little weird. On the one hand, it's all one way, which the old one was, too, and that is actually useful. On the other hand, the building is situated such that the main entrance faces away from all the parking, including the handicapped parking, and you have to walk all the way around the building practically unless you are lucky to find one of the first spots as you come in. What makes this odd is there are two doors that say 'no entry' on them that actually face the parking lot, but that would take you into the former showroom/adult collection rather than through a true entry with a desk. Still, it's a little odd.

I honestly am not sure how I feel about this building and the set up. It will probably grow on me; I'm just attached to the old place, I guess. I'll reserve judgement for now, anyway. And I will miss living so close to the library that I could walk to it, even though on at least one occasion, when I was hit by the car, I proved that was not such a good thing. :) Okay, my legs are going asleep in this chair (although to be fair, I always had trouble with the ones in Eagle Creek, too.) I think I'll get up, explore a bit, check out some books, and go on home, as the library closes within the hour.