Top Columbus recommendations for IFLA visitors

Former Marketing Intern
,
OhioLINK
Thursday, August 11, 2016 - 8:45am (updated Thursday, August 11, 2016 - 10:37am)
skyline

Every year, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) holds the World Library Information Congress and in 2016 the city of Columbus is opening its doors to library professionals from around the globe. This melting pot of library expertise is a great event for librarians and Ohio libraries are fully engaged. Public and academic libraries all around Ohio are preparing to host visitors and provide tours, and OhioLINK staff members are participating by volunteering and presenting at various events.

In order to show our travelling colleagues the best time Columbus can offer, OhioLINK staff members recommended their favorite places around Columbus and we compiled them into a map for any and all librarians looking for the best parts of town. You can find our interactive map here. 

The map shows a wide variety of options (listed down the left-hand side next to map), from great places to eat or hang out to huge nature parks to help relax after long days at the conference. The map consists of six different pins to denote different types of places on the map. The key for the map goes as follows:

  • Green Star: Green stars indicate restaurants and cafes where food is the main point of interest.
  • Purple Circle: If you see one of these, the establishment is a coffee shop with some of OhioLINK’s favorite brews.
  • Yellow Square: If you yearn to explore or just get some fresh air, the yellow squares are for you. Yellow squares indicate locations of Columbus landmarks, museums, or parks.
  • Orange Diamond: In need of a souvenir? Orange diamonds are at the locations of our favorite local stores and boutiques.
  • Blue Circle: If you’re in need of sugar, head towards blue circles. Blue circles show spots with the best desserts and pastries.
  • Red Tab: Head for the red tabs (and maybe start a tab) if you want to check out some stops on Columbus’s bar scene – including some of our many local craft breweries.

To complement the map, we added some brief videos of our staff explaining why we chose each place to highlight out of all the great places in the city of Columbus.

One of the videos introduces the Book Loft, a unique book store we have here in Columbus’s German Village. The Book Loft is full to the brim (almost literally) with books from every genre and author imaginable. Check out our brief video about the Book Loft to see what staff Stefanie Wolf and Tasha Bryant-Willis have to say about this Columbus treasure. Check out our channel for more videos like this one!

It’s been awesome to see what places everyone on our staff has been suggesting. As a Columbus native, it was nice to get some exposure to places that even I didn’t know existed! The whole OhioLINK staff pitched in to create this guide. We hope you get as much use and enjoyment out of it as we did. Welcome to all incoming librarians and we hope you enjoy Columbus!