Public Libraries

Created in 1895 from the Astor and Lenox libraries and the Tilden trust, NYPL runs 92 locations serving millions of New Yorkers. T...

The first large free municipal library in the United States, founded by an 1848 act of the state legislature and opened in 1854, t...

Founded in 1873, two years after the Great Fire destroyed the citys book stocks, the Chicago Public Library grew out of donations ...

Serving one of the largest populations of any US public library system from its 1926 Goodhue Central Library, whose pyramid tower ...

Seattles library system, founded in 1890, became world famous with the 2004 Central Library designed by OMA and Rem Koolhaas. The ...

Canadas largest public library system, established in 1883 as part of the free library movement, now runs 100 branches across Toro...

Heir to the medieval library of the Sainte-Genevieve abbey, this public institution moved in 1851 into a landmark building by Henr...

Built from the library of Cardinal Mazarin and opened to the public by his will in 1647, the Mazarine is the oldest public library...

Opened in 2002 to revive the spirit of the ancient Library of Alexandria, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a tilted disc on the harb...

Designed by MVRDV and opened in 2017, the Binhai Library is nicknamed The Eye for the glowing spherical auditorium at its heart. T...

Gunnar Asplunds city library opened in 1928 and remains one of the defining buildings of Swedish architecture between classicism a...

Built as the flagship project of the centenary of Finnish independence and opened in December 2018, Oodi faces the Parliament Hous...

Chartered in 1891 and funded by a bequest from George S. Pepper, the Free Library opened its Beaux-Arts Parkway Central building o...

Founded in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, it was one of the first free public libraries in the world. Its octagonal La Trob...