While I applaud the city's use of store fronts as libraries, the ambience (not to ever mention the parking!) is many times nonexistent-to-poor. The county libraries are functional now that they've given up that 80's business where they were so enamored of neon!

I grew up ina town in NJ that had no library. (It existed as a few farms until the late 40s/early 50s brought the GI Bill and mini-Leavit Towns.) We used to library in the next town (for a fee) which was housed on the second floor of the Fire House. For "important" things - i.e., anything requiring research - we had to use (for a higher fee) the "city library," 2 towns over, where there building was very, very old and dank and dark and musty and there was absolutely NO parking, but we rode the bus, BUT(!) it had very tall stacks with ladders that seemed to be 20 feet tall and must have been on wheels. I really considered a career as a librarian just so that I could roll back and forth across the stacks on that ladder. I abandoned the dream due to all of that shushing.

For better or worse, I did dream of library ladders. And I'd say go with the one you make yourself--it's what you really want.

Nancy, are you sure you're old enough to climb a ladder? If anything happened to you, we'd really miss those Freebie Fridays. Oh, and we'd miss you too, of course.

I love the sliding ladders in the libraries and have wished to do the same in my house but i have no room for that kind of privelage, so if you do go with the custom made, i know i would and congrats on the shelves :)

Gail, it barely registers that I'm old enough to buy a house, let alone climb ladders unattended. But I'm going to take advantage of it!

I'll be extra careful, I promise. A broken tailbone is agony enough for one year.

I would make exactly what you want. You're likely to regret it if you don't. I love the Konstantin library look. What I wouldn't give for that!