Ready, set, read Apr 8, 2019

Ready, set, read

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?

© Ron Buskirk/Alamy

palette

Today in History

Apr 8, 2018It’s Draw a Bird Day
Apr 8, 2020Santorini through the clouds
Apr 8, 2021I m here! Take a look at me!
Apr 8, 2022Ponta Delgada
Apr 8, 2023The Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland
Apr 8, 2024Total solar eclipse
Apr 8, 2025Paro Tsechu Festival in Bhutan

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Jul 6, 2025Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park, California
Aug 18, 2025Avalanche Lake Trail at Adirondack High Peaks, New York
Nov 13, 2023Serra de Tramuntana, Majorca, Spain
Aug 24, 2025European fallow deer in England
Jan 27, 2023Guanahacabibes National Park, Cuba
Jun 24, 2020Midsummer in Sweden
Apr 26, 2025Redwood National and State Parks, California
Mar 2, 2023Negratín Reservoir, Granada, Spain
Apr 22, 2021Gazing down on planet Earth
Jul 15, 2025Perseid meteor shower over Nevada
Apr 27, 2024National Go Birding Day
Aug 31, 2018Let’s have a ball
May 16, 2023American Wetlands Month
Jul 28, 2023San Blas Islands, Panama
Apr 15, 2023World Art Day
Oct 23, 2022Mute swan
Oct 8, 2023World Octopus Day
May 24, 2019Not your average sandcastle
May 14, 2018Celebrating Bike to Work Week, May 14-18
Aug 30, 2024International Whale Shark Day
Nov 1, 2021Native American Heritage Month
Jun 21, 2022Summer solstice
Sep 15, 2018A Latino art exhibition in Denver
Nov 7, 2024Vancouver Coastal Sea wolves, Great Bear Rainforest, Canada
Nov 26, 2022World Olive Tree Day
May 24, 2018East River crossing
Mar 24, 2023Wild garlic in bloom at Hainich National Park, Germany
Nov 3, 2023World Jellyfish Day
Jan 19, 2018Old Town in Prague, Czech Republic
Nov 6, 2021World Numbat Day