The Ann Arbor District Library is the Ann Arbor city public library. It has a variety of resources, from novels and reference books to music CDs and DVDs. The AADL's services are available free of charge to all residents of the Ann Arbor school district, and for a fee to others.
Web site: http://AADL.org
The AADL website also has many cutting edge features. Users can find, reserve, and renew all library materials (account page), search magazine archives and other databases, view checked out items and pay fines due (if any), and much more. The site is built on the content management system Drupal, so patrons can publish their own blogs, post comments to blog posts, and subscribe to RSS feeds.
The Library provides free Wi-Fi access and public computers in various levels at their branches.
This is a meeting room available for reservations through a program called aadlFreeSpace. You can have a room free of charge 4 times per year for your organization. Other rooms at branches are available for rent. The Mallett's Creek, Pittsfield, and Downtown branches also have study rooms available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Branches
- Downtown - Fifth Avenue (at the corner of Fifth Avenue at William Street, across from the Blake Transit Center and the Old YMCA). Circulated over 1 million items in Fiscal Year 2007. The front part of the building was designed by Alden B. Dow and built in 1957.
- Malletts Creek - 3090 E. Eisenhower Parkway (just west of the Eisenhower Packard split, near Stone School Road). It was designed by Carl Luckenbach (Luckenbach|Ziegelman Architects) and built in 2004.
- Pittsfield - 2359 Oak Valley Drive (just south of the Ann Arbor Ice Cube). It was designed by Carl Luckenbach (Luckenbach|Ziegelman Architects) and built in 2006.
- Traverwood - 3333 Traverwood Drive (at Huron Parkway). It was designed by VanTine/Guthrie Studio of Architecture and built in 2008.
- West - South Maple Road at West Stadium Boulevard (in the Westgate Shopping Center)
DVDs
One of the best things about the library is its amazing DVD collection. You can go to the AADL website, and either request DVDs by title or just look at what's new and/or hot. All rentals are free and you can see where you are in the line for a given movie by looking at your account. Talk about a cheap thrill!
Ann Arbor Reads
Every year, AADL conducts an Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads program. They choose a book that the whole community is encouraged to read, then the library puts on a bunch of presentations and events to discuss the book. In 2007 the theme "We the People" is exemplified in Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountrains, a profile of Dr. Paul Farmer, an infectious diseases specialist, and his quest to "cure the world.". It's not too late to get your copy from the library and join in the fun.
Reference
The reference desk at (734) 327-4525 answers questions free of charge, though they don't do your homework for you. You can also contact the reference desk through their online form to have your answer emailed back to you.
Old News
The library's Old News collection includes an extensive clippings file from the Ann Arbor News which is in the process of being digitized. The library also has the Ann Arbor Sun online, as well as the photo archives from the Ann Arbor News.
ESL Resources
The AADL carries a wide variety of English as a Second Language resource materials including ESL grammar books, English grammar books, books-on-tape, books-on-CD, basic literacy resources, and bi-lingual materials. Tutor rooms are also available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Downtown, Malletts Creek and Pittsfield Branch locations.
The AADL partners with ESL community organizations and is a member of the Ann Arbor ESL Advisory Committee.
Library architecture
The Malletts Creek Branch is built near Malletts Creek, and was designed to have minimum impact on that watershed. It has a green roof and bioswales built to control runoff. Landscape architecture was done by InSite Design Studio.
The trees from the site of the new Northeast Branch were hauled off by a team of horses, and will be turned into furniture for the new location.
Management and Board
- Josie Parker, director
- Barbara Murphy, board member
- Edward Surovell, board member
Board packets are available before meetings.
Stats
- 8.1 million circulations and renewals in fiscal year 2007. Online renewals up 20.7%, to 4.9 million, over half of all circulations. Books and DVDs both accounted for 30% of checkouts. source
External Links & Sources
In the news
The board got a monthly update on the library’s finances, and were briefed on a $50,000 donation from the Friends of the AADL. They also heard a report on a project to digitally archive the program history of the University Musical Society – the first project of its kind in the world, according to AADL director Josie Parker.
News references
- Ann Arbor District Library stories on AnnArbor.com
- Ann Arbor District Library stories on Ann Arbor Chronicle
- Ann Arbor District Library stories on Ann Arbor Observer
- Ann Arbor District Library stories in Heritage Media newspapers
- Ann Arbor District Library stories in the Google News archives