The Best Libraries in the United States

East coast

The Library of Congress in Washington shows its Great Hall of marble columns and mosaics, and the domed reading room from a gallery above. Boston Public Library on Copley Square has the McKim Building with its reading rooms, murals and courtyard. The New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue is a marble building opened in 1911. The George Peabody Library in Baltimore has five tiers of cast-iron balconies around a skylit atrium, and the Providence Athenaeum is a membership library in an old building with a mezzanine.

Midwest and South

The Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago is a nine-floor brick building with a glass-roofed Winter Garden at the top. Kansas City Central Library is in a former bank; its parking garage is faced with giant book spines. Indianapolis, Cleveland and Toledo have historic main libraries downtown, Indianapolis with a modern glass atrium added. Nashville Public Library has a children's floor with puppet shows and a civil rights exhibit, and Austin Central Library has six floors and a roof terrace beside the lake.

West

Seattle Central Library is a ten-floor glass and steel building with a continuous book ramp, and the Suzzallo Library on the University of Washington campus has a Collegiate Gothic reading room. Salt Lake City Public Library, by Moshe Safdie, has a five-storey atrium and mountain views. In the Los Angeles area, the Central Library downtown dates from 1926 and Cerritos Library has an aquarium wall in the lobby. Multnomah County Central Library is in downtown Portland.