In recent years, the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) has embarked on a program of building architecturally noteworthy facilities in a variety of Washington neighborhoods.
A three-level public library that extends the original neoclassical library building from 1912 with a 12,000-square-foot addition, for a total of 25,000 square feet.
As a tagline, “building better libraries for stronger communities” might be a little trite, but it does sum up San Francisco’s ambitions for its branch-improvement program — an ongoing building campaign funded in part by a $105.9 million bond passed by city voters in 2000.
Didn’t the 1957 movie Desk Set first raise the question about whether or not librarians and, by extension, libraries, are still needed in a world of computers?
A three-level, 46,500-square-foot library including an Internet café, a children's science center, a local arts gallery, offices, terraces, a reading room, and a community room.
A renovation of Portland's International Style public library, with a new café, an expanded computer center, a larger children's area, a new space for teens, meeting rooms, and an auditorium, spread over the main and lower levels.