When I moved to Ballard, the first thing that I looked for was the library. What can I say? I’m a voracious reader.

When I found it, I realized that Seattle was a city with very different priorities. The Ballard Public Library is not just an interesting building with a grass-covered roof, it is a multi-purpose facility that has become a destination for the people in the neighborhood.

According to the Seattle Public Library’s Web site, the Ballard Branch was opened in 2005, replacing the original Carnegie building (1904-1963) and the one on 24th Avenue Northwest (1963-2005).

Situated a block back from Market and across from Bartell’s as well as Ballard Commons Park, the Ballard Branch is in a prime spot.

I believe that the priorities of a community are reflected in how they treat their libraries. Some places can’t scrape together the money to keep their libraries open. Others create a lavish downtown library and leave the branches to rot.

A few have really nice, clean, well-stocked libraries, but nobody uses them. My encounter with the Ballard Branch was one of my first encounters with the Seattle City government.

The fact that Seattle had built a brand-new green building complete with a neighborhood service center and a meeting room for Ballard, and were planning to do this eventually to every branch, completely blew my mind.

The Seattle Public Library has made their branch libraries destination points in their neighborhoods by offering a variety of new and exciting services as well as improving older ones, and the Ballard Branch is a shining example of this.

For instance, a lot of people now use the request system. I have never seen so many library materials on hold in one place as I see on a daily basis at the Ballard Branch.

The computer terminals, desks, and study rooms are always being used. I have also used the other amenities provided, having applied for my new passport at the service center and attended a reading by the author Cory Doctorow in the meeting room.

With all of the changes in the services the Seattle Public Library offers, many people who may have not used the library before have now become regulars.

While I am all for people using the library more, there have been side effects. The Ballard Branch always seems crowded to the point of feeling cramped. Certain things had to be removed to make room for all the computers, and one of those things in the Ballard Branch was the local historical materials and microfilms of periodicals.

My biggest issue is that some of the people who use the library don’t quite understand the need to be quiet in the library. I don’t know whether it’s because the library is basically one room and sound travels but the Ballard Branch can get noisy. I like to go the library and write, but that’s hard when there are people talking on their cell phones nearby.

Still, a lot of my concerns are normal for any library, or in the case of cell phones, any public space in the 21st Century.

As for the space concerns, the library is so popular that it is meeting or exceeding capacity on a daily basis, and that is a great thing. I’m sure that you could double the size of the Ballard Branch and it would still be filled up.

It’s great to see my tax dollars at work providing a service that not is enjoyed not only by myself but my neighbors. I’m glad to live in a community like Ballard where the library is the focal point of civic life.