The following is a guest post by Mirela Savic-Fleming, Special Assistant to the Law Librarian of Congress.
Every day on my way home, I walk past the two-and-a-half story Georgian Revival Petworth Neighborhood Library. With the cherry blossom season recently ending, I somewhat nostalgically decided to share a photo that I took in April.
The library opened in 1939 at the corner of Georgia Avenue, Kansas Avenue, and Upshur Street in Washington D.C.’s Northwest, and it still has that wonderful old feeling to it. From the historic exterior to the heavy wood furniture in the reading rooms, it makes you feel like you are stepping back in time, but even with that old-world feel, the space is inviting, bright and cheery.
In addition to providing access to DC Public Library general circulation items, the library’s collection includes a Spanish language collection, job and employment literature, and adult basic education materials. Programs for all ages are offered regularly, and a meeting room with a capacity of 100 persons is well-used by groups in the community. Free yoga, free tango lessons, storytelling events and karaoke events for kids, theater classes, writers’ workshops, job seekers clinic, even tax assistance programs, are just some of the events attracting quite an audience, and not only from the neighborhood.
So, this is our little tip for the next year (if not before) to all cherry blossom and book lovers out there — if you like both, but prefer avoiding the crowds, hop on a bike or take a stroll to Washington northwest D.C. and visit Petworth Library. You will be pleasantly surprised.
