COMMUNITY: Check Out Balboa Park at the Coronado Public Library

Check Out Balboa Park At The Library

By Katia Graham

San Diego Model Railroad Museum offered an engineering lesson about the structure of bridges. Photo courtesy of San Diego Model Railroad Museum.

Nothing says culture in the San Diego region quite like the attractions of Balboa Park. While health restrictions have forced the park’s museums and the San Diego Zoo to close, the Coronado Public Library has managed to provide exclusive tastes of many of these attractions. The library has initiated special partnerships with the Mingei International Museum, the Fleet Science Center, the Model Railway Museum, the San Diego Zoo and the Japanese Friendship Garden to create some unique lockdown experiences for Coronado residents.

In December, the Zoo partnered with the library for a virtual event filmed live from its reindeer habitat so children could learn about one of the most iconic animals of the holiday season from Darby Kirby, an experienced wildlife care specialist. Coronado children were able to interact with the zookeepers and ask questions. The recording of the program is available on the library’s YouTube channel.

Currently, the library is collaborating with the Zoo to be the first library to host story times featuring its award-winning Hope and Inspiration series, read by San Diego Zoo Global Press Director and author Georgeanne Irvine. “On sharing stories about animals at the Zoo and Safari Park, my hope is children will connect with the animals and become a champion for that animal and wildlife conservation,” Irvine said. “I am so honored to be invited to be a part of the book reading program at Coronado Library.” Books in the series include her newest book Saving Moka: The True Tale of a Rescued Tiger Cub. Moderated by the library, the story times take place monthly via Zoom.

Having set up a Polar Express train exhibit in the library’s children’s area, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum has also partnered with Coronado Library on a series of related programming. For Christmas Eve, the Model Railroad Museum and Coronado Library co-hosted a live Polar Express Story Time from their Facebook pages. Museum staff also offered an engineering lesson on how bridges are structured to support the weight of trains, which streamed over the library’s Zoom platform in February.

Thanks to a partnership with the Fleet Science Center, a museum instructor leads a virtual STEM workshop for elementary-aged children in Coronado on a different theme each month. Whether on kitchen chemistry, geology or the solar system, an accompanying materials kit is provided to each registrant that can be picked up from the library. Workshops fill up quickly, so interested participants should register in a timely manner.

Mingei International Museum set up an exhibition in the library’s main gallery called “Around the World with Mingei International Museum.” Patrons could learn about folk art from four of the cultural and geographic regions represented in Mingei International Museum’s permanent collection. The exhibit’s display of costumes and attire, crowns, headgear, adornments and other objects allowed visitors to engage with craft and art forms from Japan, Nigeria, Central Asia and the United States.

A stunning under-the-sea display, reminiscent of La Jolla’s majestic kelp forest and replete with educational tidbits, brought ocean creatures to life in the library’s diorama space. Patrons could also observe the actual kelp forest tank, located at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Birch Aquarium, through a screen set up at the library to livestream the actual kelp cam.

Now the library is planning a series of programs with Balboa Park’s Japanese Friendship Garden. In early February, the Zoo and Friendship Garden reopened with limited schedules.

“While these venues may be closed, we are proud to help people in Coronado continue to benefit from their offerings,” said Library Director, Shaun Briley. “We’ve had an incredible public response that’s fueling our desire to continue to connect the community with more cultural experiences of this caliber.”

Registration for the library’s virtual programming is available through its online calendar at cplevents.org. • Katia Graham is the Children’s Librarian at Coronado Library. She has a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.