I wanted to love this library so much. There were festive holiday lights outside and books inside. Therefore, I should’ve been automatically in love. But I wasn’t. For a month I’ve been feeling guilty sitting on this post without publishing because I just lacked the warm-fuzzies that I have toward the Denver Public Library, Central Branch. Where the Central Branch is comfortable and welcoming, the Ross-Cherry Creek Branch feels very…useful. Perhaps just functional and a little sterile. There’s nothing wrong with being useful/functional/sterile. We spent 2 hours working at the library and it fulfilled our needs. I then spent 4 weeks agonizing over hurting the library’s feelings.
For RVers, this library has all the basics: bathrooms, power outlets, wifi, computers, printers, books, chairs, and an expansive kids’ section. Ross-Cherry Creek is in the Cherry Creek North shopping neighborhood of Denver, so it’s surrounded by hotels, stores, and restaurants. Cherry Creek Mall is just a few blocks South. There is a nearby golf course if that’s your style. However, the driving lanes and available parking in this part of town are best for narrow and short RVs, like Class B or shorter. I wouldn’t recommend trailers or motorhomes, but smaller tow vehicles (4-door sedans) would have no problem! The parking in Cherry Creek is metered up to three hours every day except Sunday or specific holidays. If you are at a Denver-area RV Park without a tow vehicle, you might be able to use RTD public transit or ride-sharing apps to get to Cherry Creek. Otherwise, this library definitely feels geared toward busy Denver businesspeople stopping by to use the free restrooms while shopping, or to print a résumé right quick. It is less cozy for long-term librarying.
Downstairs on the basement level (reachable by elevator or stairs), there are large gendered restrooms with some sinks that were not all in service at the time of my visit but may be fixed, now. If you need a conference room, there is at least one available for use downstairs.
While I was checking out the basement bathroom, Ash was able to talk with a library visitor about the Denver Fine Free program that started in January 2019. This warmed my heart since I’d been talking to Ash about this when we visited the Central Branch!
The main level has children’s books, the children’s play area, and check-out desks. There are no public restrooms on this floor. I liked the book displays on the walls.
Upstairs on the 2nd level (reachable by elevator or stairs) is where the computers, printers, adult books, and single-person non-gendered restroom are located. This restroom was quite popular, so there was a surprising amount of foot traffic on this level. I greatly appreciated the wifi and used my own computer for work. The chairs and tables worked for their purpose and I’m glad they were available! Some tables do not have power outlets, so you may need to look for one that does if you are there for an extended amount of time. There were smaller conference rooms upstairs that I think could be useful for small meetings or job interviews. The librarians up here helped lots of folks with checking out books, reserving computers, and fixing the printers from guests who filled the machines with their own paper (despite signs warning against this). I respect people who can do their job professionally, even when guests do not follow the posted notices. Librarians = Superheroes.
Many small children loved playing in the kids’ section on the 1st floor for the entire 2 hours we were in the library. Their happy sounds moved up from that floor to the second, due to an open floorplan where the floors are not completely separated. This became distracting after some time. Earbuds and listening to music were quite helpful, but I still actually wished I could be working in one of the smaller conference rooms.
While I believe this library could potentially be very useful for an RVer who needed an office outside of their rig for three hours, I’m not certain it’s great for library tourism. This disappoints me a little, but maybe I just don’t know enough about Ross-Cherry Creek Branch to know better. Next time I visit, I’ll ask a librarian about what makes this library a unique stop for a library tourist.
As an RVer, what do you look for in a library? As a library tourist, where are some libraries that you like to visit?