Foothill College and De Anza College

My visit with my daughter Mindy near SFSU is done, her cupboards are filled with items from Costco and I am heading south to see my friend Vickey Johnson who is the County Librarian from the College of San Mateo. We are going to visit another one of the new libraries there in Millbrae and then I head south toward 101 to visit Foothill College and then DeAnza.

---later...

It is amazing when you touch base with an old friend who has similar passions as you. You just pick up where you left off the last time you met. Vickey and I used to room together at the American Library Association conference and no one else would room with us since we were known for laughing and talking until 3 or 4 in the morning. It was great to hear of all the initiatives she is engaged in when serving these 11 communities.

The San Mateo County Library system serves "the cities of Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, Pacifica, Portola Valley, San Carlos, and Woodside, as well as unincorporated areas of the County represented by the County of San Mateo."



Before we headed out to lunch, we visited the Millbrae Library. This is the second busiest library in the County, next to the very busy new Belmont Library, which I saw the last time I was in this area. Like the Belmont Library, this architect used the natural surroundings of the neighboring park to to capture brightness and light in the Library. The entrance rotunda's lighting fixtures reminded me of stylized pinecones. One feature that college libraries don't usually do is a self-serve reserve, where patrons walk up and claim their own reserved titles, according to a coded name and pin number. It works beautifully and is an idea college libraries might also adapt for holds and recalls. The only exception would be a textbook reserve where so many students are competing for the same item. I loved the children's room as well as the reading room in the back with comfortable furniture and ottomans...and a fireplace. Very inviting!

Around 2 pm, I headed south towards Foothill College. I called their Reference desk to see "who was home" and found out that Walter Scott, the Library coordinator was not in, but was lucky to find Karen Gillette who told me where to park and where the library was located. Once again, I found a campus unlike any other--not surprising on this college trek of mine. Their architecture is very distinctive and when I searched in Google, Wikipedia reported that it is new-Japanese architecture designed by Ernest Kump and landscape by Hideo Sasaki.


Karen gave me a quick overview of the remodel and then I was off exploring the library while she helped several students at the Reference Desk. There was much activity inthe library, even in the late afternoon, since the Student Center is under construction. After my walk though, I headed down the highway towards De Anza, which like Foothill College, has a top reputation in the state.

-------
It is amazing how accessible these colleges are to the major highways and De Anza is no exception. The Library is centrally located on the campus which, like Foothill, is under major construction. I finally found my way and entered the library and learning center. I had a difficult time discerning where the reference desk was and whether it was a place people could go for information or just online catalog spaces. It was late in the afternoon and the person sitting at the desk never looked up so I wandered away and through the library. Perhaps I was tired... but it seemed that this library was stuck in the 80s, needing to be brought up to date with brightness and light. In one of the offices, I found Lena Chang who told me that Judy Mowry, the interim dean was not on campus that day. I had spoken with her at the Council of Chief Librarians meeting so I made my quick tour and went on my way. My goal was to reach San Luis Obispo by 7:30 or so...