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 23, 2020At the foot of Dubrovnik s Gibraltar
Oct 5, 2024World Teachers Day
Sep 12, 2024World Dolphin Day
Apr 16, 2025Anniversary of Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah
Nov 25, 2019The migrating monarchs of Michoacán
Apr 24, 2018National Park Week: Everglades National Park
Oct 17, 2018Let’s talk fossils
Apr 4, 2022Norway s Kjeragbolten boulder
Jan 24, 2018Santo Antão Island in the Republic of Cabo Verde
Apr 17, 2018The Children’s Cultural Festival in Reykjavik begins today
Dec 13, 2023Svolvaer, Lofoten Islands, Norway
Nov 2, 2020Waiting for winter
Aug 24, 2024Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument anniversary
Feb 17, 2018Infant Sumatran orangutan, Indonesia
Jan 2, 2023Hohenzollern Castle near Stuttgart, Germany
Apr 22, 2023Earth Day and National Park Week
Mar 22, 2020Celebrating World Water Day
Apr 13, 2024Apple trees in spring, Germany
Feb 25, 2018Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Jun 5, 2024World Environment Day
Nov 24, 2023Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington
Nov 5, 2022Tigh Mor Trossachs on Loch Achray, Scotland
Sep 9, 2021Islands of the Salish Sea
Dec 12, 2020What are we looking at?
Jun 25, 2021Birds and bees, and why they re so important
May 15, 2023The Canary Islands, Spain
Dec 13, 2020The view will stop you in your tracks
Nov 11, 2025Marine Corps War Memorial, Arlington, Virginia
Sep 5, 20242024 Toronto International Film Festival
Mar 11, 2024National Napping Day