Salt Lake City Public Library facts for kids

This page is about the library built in 2003. For the library built in 1904 listed on the National Register of Historic Places, see Old Hansen Planetarium.

An Interior View of the "Urban Room"

The Salt Lake City Public Library system's main branch building is an architecturally unique structure in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is located at 210 East, 400 South, across from the Salt Lake City and County Building and Washington Square.

History

The Salt Lake City Public Library was originally housed in the Salt Lake City and County Building in 1898. Thanks to a donation of land and money by a John Quackenbos Packard in 1900, a new library was built in downtown Salt Lake City; the building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This building remained in use until the library outgrew it by the early 1960s. The city library was then moved to a new home across from the City and County Building at the intersection of 500 South and 200 East. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on December 28, 1962, and the building was dedicated on October 30, 1964. In 1965, the old library was renovated into the Hansen Planetarium, funded by a donation of $400,000 from Beatrice M. Hansen.

Move to the current location

After celebrating the library's 100th anniversary in early 1998, an $84 million library bond was approved to relocate the library in a new building, north half a block, to its current location. The firm Moshe Safdie and Associates partnered with a local architecture firm, VCBO Architecture, to design the building, which opened to the public in February 2005. The former building in Library Square houses The Leonardo, a museum of science, technology and creativity.

On September 15, 2006, a small bomb exploded in the third floor of the main building. No one was hurt, and the damage sustained by the building was a broken window. Eastbound traffic on the streets of 400 South and 200 East was closed as 400 people were forced to evacuate.

Features

The Salt Lake City main library covers an area of 240,000 square feet (22,000 m²) in a five-story tall, wedge-shaped building. The library's collection comprises over 500,000 books, subscriptions to over 60 newspapers and magazines, 163 internet-capable computers.

The structure includes 44,960 cubic yards (34,370 m³) of concrete, and 176,368 square feet (16,385.1 m²) of glass, including a five-story curved glass outer wall. Designed by the same architect, the downtown Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library shares a similar design—most clearly apparent in the main foyer and the sweeping outer facade.

Library Square, a landscaped and paved plaza, encompasses the building's footprint. Originally, much of what is now landscaped open space had been planned to be covered by outbuildings, but Mayor Rocky Anderson asked for these to be left out in favor of creating a public park. Several shops, and the studios of radio station KCPW-FM occupy the Square. The Square itself is paved with limestone from Israel.

Upon entering the five story building, one enters the "Urban Room", which has the same limestone paving as the square. The room extends upward for all five floors and ends with a skylight of 20,000 square feet (1,900 m²). More shops line one side of the Urban Room.

A rooftop garden completes the structure. It is planted with trees, grasses, flowering bulbs and various perennial plants, as well as supporting beehives.

The whole library depends on natural lighting, reducing the need of lights in the library. A huge five story glass wall provides daylight.

Exterior of the Salt Lake City Public Library's main branch building's west side, as seen from 200 East.

Other features of the library include:

• Fireplaces on four of the floors and were designed to resemble a column of fire when viewed from 200 East and 400 South.
• A "lens" on the south side of the building, which helps to warm the building during the winter, and saves on heating costs.
• An art gallery displaying works of local artists.
• A coffee shop with a "private staircase" provides direct access to the Young Adult's Section.
• A children's library.
• A spiral "grand staircase" and three glass elevators.
• Perhaps the world's largest graphic novel collection in a public library. This is due, in part, to the former Night Flight Comics, once located in Library Square, and donor to the Library.
• A zine collection of about 1,500 zines, 15 subscriptions, and reference books.
• The library received Library Journal's 2006 "Library of the Year" award.