My Library Visit

I chose to visit the Cerritos Library located at 18025 Bloomfield Ave., Cerritos, CA 90703. The phone number there is (562) 916-1350 and the library’s website is www.ci.cerritos.ca.us/library. When you approach the library there is a beautiful pond called the Amaryllis Fountain and it depicts the ancient art of Feng-Sui (water-wind) that provides harmony and balance. Next to the pond is a tree with a vertical trunk that many people take wedding photos in front of. Closer to the entrance is a dolphin sculpture that has water shooting from the ground. As you enter the main doors of the three-level library, you pass through a metal detector. There are beautiful display cabinets with various art, but the first thing that catches the eye is the huge fish aquarium in front of the Children’s Library.

The first level of the library includes the Children’s Library, a Local History Museum (dedicated to America’s First Ladies), the Friends of Cerritos Library Gift Shop, a Mazazine/Newpaper/Paperbacks section, a Young Adults section, a Multimedia section, a Print Center, Self-Check Out stations, book return area, computer stations, and more. The Children’s Library is an amazing place that has small tables and chairs, children’s computer stations, a light house, a dinosaur skeleton, trees, a little theater, an art studio when they host various types of parties, and a help desk dedicated to children’s needs. The print center offers copy machines, various brochures, local newspapers, calendars of events, voter registration forms, and bus schedules. The Multimedia section has hundreds of movies on VHS and DVD, and books on tape.

The second level includes fiction and non-current periodicals, non-fiction books, books available in various languages, 88 individual computer stations, another public print center, 7 study rooms, and a large reference section. The reference section includes items like career and business information, telephone books, civil codes, legal codes, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and many other items. One of the study rooms offers Access Plus which is specifically designed to assist patrons with visual and learning disabilities. The third level has limited access and includes a Board Room, lobby, and storage areas.

The library offers services such as Reference USA which is like an advanced phone directory and is available through the library’s website. It offers career preparation through LearningExpressLibrary.com. It also offers a variety of online databases from the library’s home page. This library uses the Library of Congress classification system, which is the same system offered by universities. It has a long list of online subscription databases which include Auto Repair Reference Center, Business & Company Resource Center, Reference USA, Thomas Register, CollegeSource Online, Britannica.com, Grolier Online, Ancestry Library Edition, Ebsco Host, Gale Group, News Bank, SIRS Knowledge Source, Social Studies Fact Cards, The Columbia Granger’s World of Poetry, LearningExpressLibrary, and ProQuest. The librarian indicated that the most popular children’s database is Social Studies Fact Cards (information about California, the U.S, and the world), and the most popular adult database is Ebsco Host (facts on file, encyclopedias, history, poetry, etc).

The Cerritos Library is a public library but it limits its free membership to specific guidelines. The best thing I like about this library is its inviting, comfortable places to work and study. The think I like least about this library is that it charges most non-residents a fee of $100 per year to use its services.