George Peabody Library - Baltimore, MD, USA

So I visited Baltimore, MD last year and happened upon the George Peabody Library quite by accident.

When I walked in, my jaw just about hit the floor.

I immediately had a picture taken of me reading in this amazing library.



http://photo.goodreads.com/photos/131662...

So what is the coolest library you've ever read in?

Please list name of library, city, state, country and a pic if you've got one!!

=) That is a nice library! How did you manage to go there?

1) Library of Congress: Washington, DC

Amazing!

Inside LOC
Night Shot LOC


2) Main Library in downtown Seattle, WA

Huge & amazing!

Seattle Library 1 (Lower Floor)
Seattle Library 2 (Lower Floor)
Seattle Library 3 (10th floor)

Soo wrote: "=) That is a nice library! How did you manage to go there?

1) Library of Congress: Washington, DC

Amazing!

Inside LOC
Night Shot LOC


2) Main Library in downtown Seattle, WA

Huge & amazing!

..."

Wow. I really gotta make it out to Seattle again!

Great pics Soo!

My local Library in December.

I think the heating was faulty...

David wrote: "My local Library in December.

I think the heating was faulty..."

Funny.
But not a single mention of Library of Trantor.
I am disappointed.
R. Daneel Olivaw

I think that slipped my mind, if you know what I mean!

University of Illinois.

Can't find an interior pick though to share.
http://uihistoriesproject.chass.illinois...

Suzzallo:



ETA: University of Washington

Oo! That is awesome.

I like the Mechanic's Institute, a private library in downtown San Francisco with an interesting pre-1906 Earthquake history and the oldest continually operating chess club in America.

But also there is my neighborhood library on Potrero Hill with this view from the reading chairs:

Most library's in Dublin are pretty ugly. The one I frequented as a teenager was in a shopping centre.

My university library was also exceptionally ugly, however it did have this very nice view over the artificial lake.

Okay, not quite as lovely as that picture implies (for over thing it was nearly always raining), but lovely enough and quite a pleasant distraction from Being and Time or whatever.

In chronological order:
The Carol I University Foundation (unfortunately you aren't allowed to take photos inside).
Outside Shot
Front Close-up

The Old National Library (again, no photos inside)
The New National Library - should open this spring
Outside Shot
Inside Shot

The University of Medicine and Pharmacy library has two areas:
One on the first floor, for staff and students from the third year onwards
Another one on the second floor, for first and second year students
All of the above are in Bucharest, Romania.

Finally, the Palace of Culture in Iasi, I'm cheating a bit here since I don't have an interior shot, only a front view, but the County Library is in the left side of the palace, the rest is taken up by museums.

Adrienne wrote: "Suzzallo:



ETA: University of Washington"

Whoah. Looks amazing!

Adrian wrote: "In chronological order:
The Carol I University Foundation (unfortunately you aren't allowed to take photos inside).
Outside Shot
Front Close-up

The Old National Library (again, no photos inside)
T..."

Good Gawd! The palace of culture in Iasi makes Downton Abbey look modest! Thanks for the pics!

Good Gawd! The palace of culture in Iasi makes Downton Abbey look modest! Thanks for the pics!

Iasi had the good fortune of not getting architecturally slaughtered by the communists.

Also, here's a blogpost with some superb examples, none of which I've had the privilege of reading in unfortunately.

mine is nothing as spectacular as previous posts but it is the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Scotland.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44...

Pickle wrote: "mine is nothing as spectacular as previous posts but it is the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Scotland.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44620000/jpg/_44620785_mitchell.jpg"

That is actually a very cool looking library. Also you're in Glasgow which is very cool!

Here's mine: Boo yah.

The fanciest for me is probably Doheny at USC, which is not all that fancy , and I don't think I actually ever read anything in there. Going down into the book stacks was like stepping into someone's forgotten closet. You never quite felt like you were supposed to be there and I only ever saw one or two other living people. To get to the stacks required a suspicious look from the front desk and a ride down a rickety box that could only generously be called an elevator.

I'm new (for the second time) to Seattle - looking forward to checking out the half-finished piece of steel origami that is our downtown library.

Aldenoneil, Seattle library is pretty cool. We only spent about an hour there while I was visiting the city. There's lots of fun architecture in Seattle. You can also find Bruce & Brandan Lee's graves. =P


All the libraries look pretty great to me! =)

The Salt lake city library is a good one.







The building is gorgeous, has many couches and fireplaces and a huge children s area in the basement complete with playground like story areas. The rooftop has gardens and an amazing view. The only bad thing... No coffee shop.

Kevin wrote: "The Salt lake city library is a good one.

It breath-taking. Beautiful.

BUT NO COFFEE SHOP!?? WTF!!!

ah. forgot. mormons. no caffiene.




The building is gorgeous, has many couches and fireplaces and a huge children s area in the basement complete with playground like story areas. T..."

Kid wrote: "Pickle wrote: "mine is nothing as spectacular as previous posts but it is the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Scotland.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44620000/jpg/_44620785_mitchell.jpg"

Tha..."

Pickle wrote: "mine is nothing as spectacular as previous posts but it is the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Scotland.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44620000/jpg/_44620785_mitchell.jpg"

second best city in the UK :)

Kevin wrote: "The Salt lake city library is a good one.

The building is gorgeous, has many couches and fireplaces and a huge children s area in the basement complete with playground like story areas. T..."

That looks amazing. I doubt we have a building that big in Scotland!

Kevin wrote: "The Salt lake city library is a good one.

That building looks fantastic, too bad about the coffee shop though.

Adrienne wrote: "Suzzallo:

ETA: University of Washington"

Amazing! That looks like the sort of library where you can read up on your 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' skills :)

I'm cheating as I haven't actually read in this library, as its not even open yet! July 2012 is its opening date.

Its called 'The Hive' in Worcester, England, UK. And its a massive, yellow, Lego-spaceship basically.

http://www.kmebrilliance.co.uk/media/425...

Lego-spaceship! =) Good description.

Joseph wrote: "I'm cheating as I haven't actually read in this library, as its not even open yet! July 2012 is its opening date.

Its called 'The Hive' in Worcester, England, UK. And its a massive, yellow, Lego-s..."

Coolness

Pickle wrote: "Kevin wrote: "The Salt lake city library is a good one.

The building is gorgeous, has many couches and fireplaces and a huge children s area in the basement complete with playground like story ar..."

But you have old buildings to us 200 years is really old!

Kid wrote: "Kevin wrote: "The Salt lake city library is a good one.

It breath-taking. Beautiful.

BUT NO COFFEE SHOP!?? WTF!!!

ah. forgot. mormons. no caffiene.




The building is gorgeous, has many couc..."

Funny thing about SLC, it has some of the best bars and micro brew beer I have ever tasted.

I've never been to the Vancouver library before, but I've always been intrigued by it (if only for the fact it was featured prominently in BSG):

The Morrison Library at UC Berkley would have to be at the top of my list. This is a strictly leisure only library and they will kick you out if your caught studying. It is decorated like something you would expect to see in the early 1900's with big leather chairs, gilded globes, mounted trophies from long forgotten African safaris and an assortment of Victorian era decor. This place is quiet, cozy and if you could enjoy a glass of scotch and a pipe while getting lost in a good book, it would be perfect.
I did also visit a really cool and very old book store in Wales with an amazing reading room in the back... does that count?

Ryan, post a link for the Morrison! Sounds like a fun place.

Ryan wrote: "The Morrison Library at UC Berkley would have to be at the top of my list. This is a strictly leisure only library and they will kick you out if your caught studying. It is decorated like somethi..."

And you can check out art. As in take it home on loan and hang it up.

Morrison Library...

http://sugarmeows.tumblr.com/post/138578...

Iowa State University student union reading lounge, circa 1982. Think English gentleman's club, leather Queen Anne chairs, Hi-fi stereo's with a large album selection, each station with quality headphones to maintain the ambiance.
http://www.mu.iastate.edu/index.cfm?node...

AndrewP wrote: "Amazing! That looks like the sort of library where you can read up on your 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' skills :)"

The dueling room is just around the corner.

Ryan, woah! That ceiling! Ha! Cool place. I don't think people realize how much moldings have gone out of style as being "extra" trimmings in architecture & design.

The New York public library is pretty cool. You can see great high res 360 degree panoramas of it here:
http://www.samrohn.com/360-panorama/new-...

Searching for the Los Angeles Public Library, with its massive escalators, I found this: http://modernamazing.blogspot.com/2009/1...

A friend of mine gets to WORK at that Peabody library every day, I'm so jealous.

Although I work in a pretty library, this is the front, and the back overlooks the lake and the rose garden:


A memorable library to me was the Glendale Mall branch of the Indianapolis Public Library. That sounds crazy, but they had this quiet room, adults only. This was back when I had to take the bus to work, and if I left an hour early, I could get off early at the mall and spend time in the library quiet room reading. There were waterfalls and rock features, and it was amazingly pleasant.

aldenoneil wrote: "Searching for the Los Angeles Public Library, with its massive escalators, I found this: http://modernamazing.blogspot.com/2009/11/beautiful-libraries-for-librophiliacs.html"

LOL! Wow! Now I kinda want to go on a Library Trip...

Soo wrote: "aldenoneil wrote: "Searching for the Los Angeles Public Library, with its massive escalators, I found this: http://modernamazing.blogspot.com/2009/11/beautiful-libraries-for-librophiliacs.html"

LO..."

I have a wish list of libraries to see! I'm a dork extraordinaire!

=) Me too! =)

AndrewP wrote: "Adrienne wrote: "Suzzallo:

ETA: University of Washington"

Amazing! That looks like the sort of library where you can read up on your 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' skills :)"

University of Michigan's Law Library is similar:





Great place to read if you like complete, utter silence no matter how many people are there.

William wrote: "I've never been to the Vancouver library before, but I've always been intrigued by it (if only for the fact it was featured prominently in BSG):

"

Yeah, the VPL is rather nice. They have(or had) a pizza place in the courtyard. Dangerous combination, greasy fingers and books.

I've visited two memorable libraries. One is The Library of Congress (which is just stunning, but you have to have a permit to use it I think). At the complete oposite end of the spectrum is the Tipton Public Library in Iowa. It's just a really cool old building in a town with a population of about 3000. http://www.tipton.lib.ia.us/

Ok, this isn't a library, it's a writing office for National Geographic's "Explorer In Residence":

Wow