In honor of National Library Week, we’re visiting Seattle Public Library’s Central Library. With its innovative glass and steel design, you could say we’ve come a long way from the world’s first libraries that housed archives of clay tablets and papyrus scrolls. Downtown Seattle’s 11-story flagship public library has lots of open spaces like this one that allow patrons to meet, study, search the web, or read in comfortable, light-filled rooms. It can house more than 1.5 million books, many of which are stored in an innovative "Books Spiral," which displays the volumes in a continuous helix of bookshelves over 3.5 stories without breaking the Dewey Decimal System onto different floors or sections. The library, designed by architect Rem Koolhaas, moves all those books around by using a sorting system that resembles an airport’s luggage conveyor belt. How’s that for high-tech?
Ready, set, read
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Burrowing owls
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Cherry blossoms in Shanghai, China
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America s Playground by Derrick Adams
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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It’s Draw a Bird Day
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Seonam Temple, South Korea
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The Grand Départ: Tour de France begins
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Amelia Earhart
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Merry and bright
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Glendurgan Garden hedge maze is 186 years old
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Casting a vote for women s history
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Colle Santa Lucia, Dolomites, Italy
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Modica, Sicily, Italy
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A silent witness to history
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Ronda, Spain
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I am the walrus
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An enduring vision
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World Laughter Day
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A red fox on the Swiss side of the Jura Mountain range
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Not your average sandcastle
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March of the flowers
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Watson Lake in Granite Dells, Arizona
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Surf s up—Down Under
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Cinco de Mayo
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A throng of ice and spires
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Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia
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Behold the mighty Aldeyjarfoss
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It s Independence Day
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Cape Town at dusk
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National Park Week begins