Library Tour: Mission Valley Branch Library
The 3rd stop of our tour takes us to the valley!
Our next top in our tour leads us to the Mission Valley Branch Library which is located right next door to Ikea and very close to Snapdragon Stadium where the San Diego State University football team plays. This library was designed by Wheeler Wimer Blackman & Associates and it opened in 2002 and has received awards for it’s architecture and design. The curved exterior and vaulted metal roof is a nod to the cow barns that used to be in the area years ago and once you walk inside the library has even more to appreciate!
The Mission Valley Branch Library does a beautiful job of merging nature and human made objects. The library allows a lot of natural lighting in and the curved ceiling is held up by these large steel trees. It felt like I was in some type of amusement park in a way because of how playful the architecture is and that was precisely what the architects tried to achieve.
This library opened up in July 2002 and is among the largest libraries in San Diego county at 19,760 square feet. At this library you’ll be able to find a children’s library, computer lab, a mezzanine overlooking the entire library, an outdoor balcony with lots of chairs, and an outdoor patio with a flowing river sculpture.
The overall feel of this library was whimsy but very open and airy. I had so much fun walking around and exploring it and once I picked up a manga to read, I did a bit of reading outside and then went indoors to continue reading on the mezzanine. This is honestly a great location if you’re looking for something calm to do in this area. This library is also super accessible by public transportation, you can just take the trolley and get off at the Fenton Parkway Station which is just a few feet away from the library.
The manga section at the Mission Valley Branch Library is located very close to the main entrance and is the last shelves in this front area. It is really easy to miss since unlike the two libraries I’ve shown so far, this manga section is not in the teen section and has a small sign. The manga selection itself was on the smaller side and unfortunately didn’t have too many series for manga readers to pick up and really get immersed. I was able to find some shoujo titles like Sailor Moon, Dreaming Sun, and High School Debut. I was also able to find some OOP TOKYOPOP titles and the OOP Shojo Beat title We Were There which I ended up reading (review coming soon). I was also able to find the popular Webtoon series Lore Olympus and lots of Marvel titles as well.
Although this manga section wasn’t the best curated one I have seen so far, all that room on the shelves means that there is room for it to grow! Hopefully their section will add more LGBT titles and I do think some modern shounen series like Blue Lock, Kaiju No 8, and Mao would be good titles to add to this collection but I do understand that the manga section isn’t a high priority.
Mission Valley Branch Library
2123 Fenton Parkway
San Diego, CA 92108
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