Folks needing privacy and quiet for a Zoom meeting, a job interview or a study session might want to try the temporary pods at Benicia Public Library.
People are flocking to the two pods, one about the size of a diner booth and the other one smaller, says Senior Librarian Alli Angell. The pods, a pilot project, will be in place through next Tuesday. The library is considering purchasing permanent pods and is testing out this particular brand, from the Nook company, to see how well it works and how patrons like it.
“A patron was super-excited the other day to use the one-person pod,” Angell said. “They had an interview online and wanted more privacy and quiet, and they said, ‘You don’t have anything like that,’ and we said, ‘Ah-ha! Yes, we do!’
The one-person pod is about three feet by three feet and has a door. The sound is muffled, but the pod is not soundproof. The two-person pod is about five feet by five feet, with no door.
City Librarian Jennifer Baker explained that these pods, made by the Nook Company, aren’t soundproof because they don’t have fire alarms. Sound is dampened, but not enough that someone inside would miss a fire alarm. Other brands of pods have their own alarm systems or can be connected to a library’s existing fire alarm system, she said.
For this and other reasons, the library is looking at a variety of pods from different companies.
Hundreds of schools and libraries across the country, including libraries in Napa County and Sacramento, use pods, Baker said.
“We do have a quiet zone in the library. But if a person wants to participate in a Zoom meeting or interview, they can’t do that in the quiet zone,” since they would need to speak, she said. The pods are perfect for these endeavors.
If the library decides to buy pods, they will be paid for by a couple of grants, one through the California State Library system, and another that comes through the library’s relationship with the local school district, Baker said.
As the years go by, the needs of libraries and schools change, and this is an example. The reason the library’s public computers are located where they are is that the building was constructed “before the Internet was a twinkle in anyone’s eye,” Baker said, and so all the electric outlets were installed in that one location – not the optimal one for the computers, but there’s no choice.
With that in mind, purchasing a self-contained unit like a pod instead of the sizable expense of tearing down and rebuilding can be quite a money-saver, also making an end run around time- and energy-consuming permit applications and the like, the librarian said. The pods are on wheels and can be easily moved.
The cost varies – the lower end is about $5,000, and the upper end is closer to $15,000, she said. “The prices are coming down. We looked into doing this five years ago and it was $25,000.”
The pods made quite a splash on social media, Baker said. Not only were there positive comments, but the photo of the “diner pod” with two library workers inside also went viral.
“The number keeps going up, but right now it’s 35,000-plus views on Instagram and counting,” Baker said Wednesday. “I don’t know what we did, but it definitely worked.”
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