Roanoke Library – Virginia

Yesterday, we pulled off of I81 in Virginia to check out the city of Roanoke and the library there.  This section of 81 that we were following is actually a very old road called the Great Wagon Road which connected Pennsylvania to North Carolina.  It was via this road in the 18th century that German, Scottish and Irish immigrants settled much of the South.

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The main library in Roanoke was really great, but I was really frustrated by a bad policy: “no photos unless approved by the director”.  Because of this, I can’t show you the cool plastic hoods hanging over the tables in the teen room that appeared to direct sound so that a group could listen to whatever music they wanted without bothering everyone else.  I also can’t show you the Virginia Room, a great local history and genealogy collection located in one wing of the library.  I would have asked for the director’s permission, but she was in a meeting (as a director often is) and nobody else there was authorized to allow me to take photographs.  Can anyone offer me a good reason why picture-taking requires permission from the highest level?  This is not unique to the Roanoke Library.  Here’s a few pictures from the outside.

update: thanks @justnathan for the link to Roanoke Libraries on Flickr!