This wonderful library has a connection to both Edith Wharton and Teddy Roosevelt. It's a real gem!

Is that in Saunderstown? What is the Roosevelt connection?

My hobby is visiting every library in the state and the cute tiny ones are always my favorites!

I also like the Union Public Library in Tiverton!

It is! And I have no idea.

What is the Roosevelt connection?

It’s not a library anymore it’s a residence

Sorry was thinking of the other old library across from the town hall, I know which one you are talking about near 4 corners sorry

The libraries in Foster are also very cute!

I’m trying to up my library game. What are some cool ones you would recommend?

Teddy Roosevelt was good friends with Florence Bayard Lockwood LaFarge and her husband, the noted architect Christopher Grand LaFarge. She was the daughter of Benoni Lockwood IV and Florence Bayard.

She and Roosevelt shared a decades-long correspondence, inspired by their shared reading interests. He also visited the LaFarges in Rhode Island.

from the library's website:

"While she may have entertained the President, she also was wrapped up in the life of the village and was constantly working to help those around her. She was a true environmentalist and her garden was of tremendous importance to her. Boxwood hedges, holly trees, yews, and a brick walk are still in evidence today. An indication of her interest in the year-round community was her strong support of the library. In her comments on finding people and funds to help the organization one gets a sense of ‘the power behind the throne.’ Other evidence is in her espousal of a Boy Scout troop for the youth of the village and her serving on a group to handle the beach which the Misses Carpenter had given for the use of the residents."

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Tiverton's library is really something, and so is the renovated Providence Public Library.

Other libraries I like in Providence I like specifically for their older charm: the Athenaeum, and Knight Memorial.

There are lots of other great ones around the state, I just haven't been in then. Happy exploring!

I’ve always loved the Hale Library in SK across RT 1 from Matunuck Beach Rd

I'm biased and love the East Greenwich Public Library for it's gothic revival architecture and the shady bench outside by the garden BUT

the little cute ones I've loved the most (aside from Willett) are Foster, Brownell, Union, Rochambeau, and Greene! I have a spreadsheet of every library in the OSL system, which has made it easy to track which ones I'll be near and which ones I've liked.

That sounds like a really fun hobby. I may start that too!

You will notice how "cute" this library remained after putting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of renovations. How did they do that? They met accessibility standards by forcing disabled people to enter around the back. Adorable /s

They also limited parking so it is prohibitive for people outside the extremely wealthy neighborhood to access it.

I recommend the cross mills public library for charm minus the elitism.

That's a cool idea. What do you do when you visit one? Do you just look around and leave?

North Kingstown library is the opposite of charm but a really interesting example of 70's modern architecture where the natural environment was tapped to steal the show. Make sure you go downstairs and walk the grounds for a true appreciation.

If you ever find yourself in Camden Maine do not miss that one.

💀 I have expired of cuteness. Please bury me next to my "to be read" pile

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That's the one that comes to my mind, too.

Your experience may vary. Where are you parking? On the road?

All I'm saying is they put an enormous amount of money into this project and protecting the image of the "village" was of much greater concern than the accessibility. Believe me, there are plenty of people in that neighborhood that hate the idea of this library being open to the "public".

I don't mean to bring drama to the library topic and I love all the libraries we have at our disposal but this particular one really rubs me the wrong way. Probably because I know what went into the sausage.

There are 4 parking spots in front of the library. Before the renovation, there were no parking spots. I’ve never been there when all 4 are full, but I’ve seen cars parked along the road for other reasons, so I’m sure that’s fine. Maybe they could have had the ramp in the front, but it hasn’t really been an issue for me. Everyone is super welcoming every time I’ve gone.

The only reason there are any parking spaces or a ramp is because they were forced to put them in to comply for funding. If they didn't have to, they wouldn't have.

It's a library. I was just there on Tuesday. Or...do you mean Willet?

Yes, still a library - just north of the cheese shop, above Four Corners.

do you want a spreadsheet?

I check out a book (started as Nabokov, but I ran out of him after about the 12th library) and walk around to look at the amenities and then sit and read for a while. Some have coffee machines and I'll get a coffee. I like talking to the librarians. Several of them are excited to see my uniform and we chat about scheduling educational programs.

I work across the whole state (or at least the forested parts), so I usually schedule my lunch break around a library I'll be near and spend my break there. It's nice to use the bathroom indoors and have a read for a little while before heading back out!

I used to live in a carriage house in Wickford village until last year! I spent a lot of time there, but I did not like the North Kingstown library because it was so LOUD. Wide open, high-celling, multi-floor open plans are terrible choices for library design. However, it almost always had the books I was looking for, the staff was excellent, and you can't beat the view of Academy Cove! I did like walking around the outside and sitting at the tables in the little sunken garden.

That would be dope

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Adams Library in Central Falls is really cute and has some very old books