Glenview's New Library - Day 1

I arrived early and parked in the commuter lot at the train station.  'Cause who wants to fight it?  And I caught a view that I hadn't seen before, because it was behind the fence.  From Jackman Park:

Again, I was early, so I went to the Dairy Bar for what will most assuredly be my last chocolate dipped cone of the season.  It was a bad idea since there were cookies and punch and cake being served after the ribbon-cutting.   But about once a week since April, I have gone to the Dairy Bar, gotten a cone and contemplated the glory of the new building going up.  And let me tell you:  I was not the only one.  A couple of times, I met up with a guy that walked over with his dog, bought ice cream for the dog, and sat looking at it.

Around that time, I saw that people were starting to head in to the building.  I finished my cone and followed them.  No one was at the Used Book Store yet, and a nice man said that I could go into the big room where the big shots would be making their big speeches.  So I did.  But first I stopped in the Ladies Room.  Do you know how happy a new bathroom makes me?  So happy that after I washed my hands, and ran the towel on the counter where I had splashed, I noticed that someone else had already splashed the other end of the counter, and I so dried that off, too.

I took a seat at the back of the meeting room.  Looks like a meeting room in any building, complete with the - what do you call them? airwalls? - that can divide it into two smaller meeting rooms. 

GVTV was setting up the cameras and microphones.  I took a look at the program.  Still really early.  So I read my book.  Eventually, everyone was called in and it filled up for real.  Standing room.  So many that plenty of people couldn't even get in.  You could here them getting restless over the speakers, which was kinda funny.  Halfway through the thanking of everyone and his dog, it occurred to me that we must be breaking a fire code.  So I spent a couple of minutes identifying my route to a window that I could break and jump out of.  There are lots of windows, so it wasn't difficult.  And then back to the thanking people.  These poor little kids that just wanted to see their awesome new room (that takes up half the first floor) had to sit through three people thanking the architect.  And his entire staff.  And the builder.  And his staff.  And the Governor of the State of Illinois.  And everyone that had ever sat on the Library Board of Trustees.

Finally, it was over and blahblahblah they cut the ribbon and herded us in.  They haven't quite finished the final touches.  Like numbering the shelves so that we can find the right books.  But it is lovely.  Lots of natural light.  And here is the best part:

Finally, I made my way back to the new Used Book Store.  There is no way to get a good picture of the entire room.  This was as good as it got:

But we have a lot of books.  I can't wait to start using the place.