The Seattle Public Library - Central Library

My two mentees and I got here late for a tour we were taking for the rest of the group. We stopped at the front desk and asked if they knew where they were. They called security to attempt to locate the group on the cameras, but couldn’t find them.

So we started on our own colorful high speed tour of the library, looking for the rest of the group — rising through the disembodied lips escalator and the plasticly glowing stacks to the starry rooftop. We finally found them in a computer lab behind a hidden door on the fleshy red floor.

We apologized for being late, etc, but secretly I thought our tour was better than learning how to type in a search box.

It’s a huge, beautiful library and it’s free for locals!

It’s an amazing structure to look at from the outside and the inside. And its facade is just a wonderful preamble for the book collection it houses. I went there 2 days ago and managed to check out 20 pounds of books!! And that was just a start…

I will keep coming :o)

The downtown Seattle Public Library has absolutely beautiful architecture. It’s worth a visit just to see the building and the amazing inside. And it’s free!

I wish I lived next door. I would go there all of the time.

I love libraries. Imposing old libraries built of stone with dark paneled wood interiors and antique furniture. Silent temples of learning.

Steel, glass and formica? Not so much.

As a Library Zealot I had to visit the new library. Couldn’t they have built this 5 years earlier just to make me happier. I’m telling you, it really bothers me when cities do not plan everything around me! Sorry, I was sucked into a vortex of self-importance there.

Which is kind of like entering this library. It is a visit to a different world. It feels like a library on Superman’s home planet. Vast, awesome, grandiose, inspires you to think in whole new futuristic ways.

Wish I’d had more time, but I had to head uptown for a important surprise meeting with the Robots.

ugly, impersonal, cramped, claustrophobic, cold, horribly designed, an expensive joke. but it has books, so.. shrug

…was July 1. It’s an interesting building, but I wonder how well it works for library patrons. Underground parking is free for 20 minutes, $3 for 20 min – 1 hour. Take the elevator to the top floor for a look around, don’t miss the Dewey spiral. Free tours start down by the Friends of the Library shop.

What a marvel…beautiful design…huge…The staff friendly and helpful…I have never seen more computers for public use in my life…