Is this even Chicago?
BEN: Yes! But barely. Roden sits in Norwood Park, in the far northwest corner of the city. You may remember us being up in these parts last when we visited the Oriole Park branch not far away.
SAM: We had the pleasure of having two guests with us on our visit! Grandpa and Grandma Opp visited us from California and before sending them to their hotel near O’Hare airport, we decided to slip in a library visit.
We were greeted by Jeff, a friendly librarian at the reference desk. The library was quiet and cozy with numerous welcoming and beautiful paintings on the windows.
BEN: Jeff loves the cozy, “library-ish” vibes of this 1968 building, preferring it to some of the more modern branch buildings CPL has built in recent years. I totally get it and could certainly picture myself holing up here for an afternoon with a good book!
The branch features a generously sized community room (especially considering the modest size of the overall building) that hosts a cornucopia of programming: mahjong, pinochle, a knitting club, and a cookbook club/recipe exchange. Residents of a nearby senior living building are regulars.
Jeff is another career changer who ended up in the library. His story starts as a lab technician in the pharmaceutical industry. When his role was cut down to part-time, he landed a part-time role as a library page, inspired by his mom’s recommendation of the library as a great place to work. An MLS and a few branch hops later, and now he’s happily working as a librarian near his home on the northwest side.
Jeff isn’t just following in the footsteps of his mom, but also this branch’s namesake, Carl B. Roden, a Norwood Park resident who started out as a lowly library page before rising through the ranks and serving as Chief Librarian from 1918 until 1950, and even spent one year as president of the American Library Association. Jeff made sure we heard Carl Roden’s story and saw his portrait, prominently displayed in the community room. Watch out, CPL – Jeff is inspired to lead!
What about transit?
DANIEL: Alright let’s get on the map and oh my gosh where the heck is this library (it’s way up north)?! Ok anyway, Roden Branch is served by CTA Route 68, which I didn’t know even went that far. Pace is also pretty close, with Route 423 getting 0.6 miles apart from the library, with CTA Route 88 also serving the 423 stop. Metra is no problem, as their Norwood Park UP-NW station is right across the street from the library. I want to point out how cool the park surrounding the station is. Anyway, CTA’s Harlem Blue Line station is 0.9 miles from the library. There are plenty of bike racks, and street parking is available.
CTA Bus: ✅
CTA Train: ✅
Metra: ✅
Pace: ✅
Parking: ✅
5/5! Outstanding!
Leave a Reply