Quincie Douglas Library, Tucson, Arizona

At first, I found the Quincie Douglas Library a little daunting. It seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere--even though it was in the middle of Tucson, the surrounding land was undeveloped, sparse, or far back from the library itself, which gave the illusion that it was an island adrift in a desert sea. From the start, it was hard not to appreciate that kicky, 50s gas station aesthetic--so many of the libraries I've visited seem like an homage to Route 66, and I am so down for that. After all, we go there to gas up on some hot knowledge, do we not?

Anyway, I got settled at one of the tables away from the walls (which were primarily glass)--this library is equipped with outlets in the floor and plastic chairs that somehow managed to be utilitarian and comfortable at the same time. While I took a brief break for lunch (pb crackers and banana mmm), I was there for about 8 hours, from open at 10 a.m. to close at 6 p.m. That alone should tell you this was a kick-ass library.

I didn't require help from any of the library staff, but it was hard not to notice just how much they were up and out helping patrons with various things, whether it was to find a book or figure out the internet. There were also staff members shelving books, but they were unobtrusive, quiet, and efficient.

Parking lot decor.

The Quincie was not a quiet library, however, but the noise seemed to cascade together into a generic drone that was easy to ignore. I am not sure if this can be attibuted to the architecture of the library or my state of mind, but it was kind of nice to be typing away in that environment. I only had to put headphones on once, when one elder gent's phone kept make a screechy little squawk that cut through the soft layer of anonymous murmurs.

Quincie is actually named after a person, Quincie Bell Sims Douglas. She was a community activist and also looks like one of the nicest people to ever live on this planet. Click the link and look at her sweet, beautiful face. I can't tell you how aggressively happy it makes me when libraries are named after people who made a difference in their community. We have enough things named after presidents. We need more things named after people like Quincie Bell Sims Douglas!

Addendum to the Library: Tucson! I stayed at an AirBNB--very nice, hot shower and all that. But the best part of all was meeting my new best friend, MAPLE. She is a Miniature Schnauzer, though I believe she is extra mini, so maybe a micro-Schnauzer? When I got there the host was not home so I used the keypad to get in and suddenly there was a wiggling, whining, panting little furball doing the tarantella all around my legs. I immediately started speaking to her in velociraptor (high squeals of delight and kinship), though it was a challenge to negotiate my way to the security pad to deactivate it before it called the cops. A tiny, excited dog whirling around one's legs is not constructive to locomotion, unless it's to fly forward and splat on the floor, of course.

We played for a solid 45 minutes before her owner got home--she had this little denim dachshund that she would bring to me and throw in my direction, then depending on how fast I was, we would play tug-of-war or fetch. Whenever she wanted to play, she'd fling the toy, then do this tappy dance that I swear to God sounded choreographed like suddenly this is White Nights and Gregory Hines has taken the floor. It was crazy cute. As was her little tug-of-war growl, which sounded very similar to this. Very rough and tough.

Any time I went into the bathroom and closed the door she would cry, so I decided to leave the door to the bedroom open at least until her owner returned. We'd play, then she'd get all winded and just relax and maul the dachshund for a while, then we'd play some more. She never went too far from my side, as pictured.

A butt.

OMG, right? Dogs are the best.