Even though I don't attend Bard College, when I went looking for a men's room the other day and found myself near Bard in waiting for an Uber ride I felt like taking, my first thought was about the Bard Library - Stevenson Library nearby where I was (I was in the dirt parking lot near Kline Commons), this was it.
I went in and began perusing. I knew I had to look here; I planned on looking around after, but I had to "go" and although at first I couldn't locate the bathroom until I explored on my own (because no employee realized what I was really looking for at the time - not like anyone cared because most employees were up at the front desk even though there was a tour group walking around the campus), I eventually found it, but it was tricky to find as there's no direct route to the men's room from the front entrance without passing around the tables on the opposite side near the windows. (But, that part of the experience doesn't need to be elaborated on any more.)
Eventually, I went looking. I would have thought the Bard Library was small, had I not walked in and perused - but on second thought when I went in, I looked around and thought to myself "sh** there are more books here than there are in the Red Hook and Rhinebeck (Starr) Libraries combined." There seemed to have been additional areas throughout the library including several microfiche reels in the backroom, and although the Sports section struck out at me (having a fond interest in the New York Yankees, and having seen this area next to the bathrooms I used), I took a quick look.
I continued looking around for a few more minutes, and ended up coming back up around the fiction section of the library in the back area of the Library (that area is a little poorer in amount of books, but is still awesome for those who don't have much book collections to read from at their disposal
I wasn't too pleased that this place doesn't allow non-Bardies take out books, but it's okay. I got a general feel for the library on campus - so I know just where some kids hang out and know a little about the place I visit at times. I would have thought this library would be connected to the MId Hudson Library System and would want to gather people together and bring in more choices to the library and bring adults closer to the students and get more interactions here for the students to get involved and get real-live results going.
Little did I know that a few weeks (about two weeks) later, Midterms for the Fall-Winter 2017 semester would be going on and this place was packed (as I heard from an Uber rider who was one of my repeat riders) - glad I went in earlier in October before the "madness" began. read more