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April 5, 2010

Plainsboro all a-tingle over new library

Thursday, April 01, 2010
Mea Kaemmerlen
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
nj.com
Plainsboro, that sleepy little town once covered with potato vines and cow pastures, is bursting with excitement. Just as Las Vegas thrills over a new casino and New York a new luxury condo, Plainsboro is tingling over its new library.

And just as Dorothy and Toto followed the yellow brick road to Emerald City, next Friday, April 9, you can follow the library's yellow Chinese dragon from the old library to the new one. After a few minutes' walk, you'll have your first peek inside this elegant, hi-tech, glass, brick, stone and steel community hub. It officially opens April 10.

In the parade, you'll be joined by children transporting their favorite pop-up, cloth and ribbon books from the library's non-circulating collection; the library's dinosaur, creature, mask and art collections; its many exotic eight-foot-tall puppets; and the rest of us -- parents, library staff, Plainsboro locals and, at the rear, a mighty red fire engine.

It's been three years in the making, and Plainsboro Public Library is now the welcome anchor to "downtown Plainsboro," boasting several restaurants, a coffee house, cupcakery, workout center and more.

Recently, I begged the library's intrepid, larger-than-life director, Jinny Baeckler, to give me a tour. Like Baeckler, the three-story building, designed by BKSK Architects of New York City, is bright, smart, comfortable, green, multicultural, right-minded and slightly eccentric.

Light pours in from every direction -- the first floor sweeps up to a cathedral ceiling with glass walls and high windows. Every floor has glassed-in corner rooms and several terraces. One balcony allows for a giant chess game; another is designated as "The Quiet Terrace."

Warm, comfy chairs, banquettes, low benches and rugs are patterned in woven greens, browns and bright reds. "Throughout," says Baeckler, "we have a theme of weaving. Our community is rich in diversity and, here, we come together in one fabric."

Many cozy reading nooks are scattered throughout, all with fabulous furniture. Some chairs are shaped like hollow gourds for parents and children to read together. Others, from the same company (PIE Studio of Miami), are of hand-woven water hyacinth, a common plant that clogs slow-moving waterways.

The first floor holds stacks of fiction, a dramatic high-tech community room seating 150 people, themed bookcases, pull-out drawers for audio and visual, cafe seating and the art gallery.

Baeckler is known for nurturing artists. "We will have good art here. You may not like it, but it will be good." About the cafe: "We don't want to compete with local eateries, so we'll have coffee, tea and their menus and direct business their way. Patrons can bring food back to eat here."

The second floor is perched on a balcony overlooking the first floor. Its stacks are punctuated with bright red letters: "Non-Fiction," "Reference," "Biography." Several small rooms will serve for tutoring, testing, small groups. "In the old library, we were so crowded we used our own offices," says Baeckler. "Staff would just have to disappear for a while." Included is a Health Education Room with computer, scale, blood pressure gauge. "We see that people often need privacy when researching a particular disease." The library will host monthly health lectures.

On the third floor is the Children's Department, with low chairs, tables and stacks. A large Science Center and a Story Room occupy the corners, and a snuggly pillow-pit invites kids to look at the sky through a large skylight. From her stall in the Story Room, Plainsboro's Elsie the Cow will preside over the library.

"We've tried to make it welcoming and comfortable," says Baeckler. "But we're not about entertainment. We're still an old-fashioned library, all about learning, reading, and exploring."

And parades. I look forward to the April 9 march to a Plainsboro treasure.

Mea Kaemmerlen lives in Plainsboro. Contact her at meakaem@aol.com.

Posted by tumulty at April 5, 2010 6:03 AM

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