Salt Lake City Public Library
Encyclopedia
Salt Lake City Public Library system
The Salt Lake City Public Library system is a network of public libraries funded by Salt Lake City. The Free Public Library of Salt Lake City first opened on February 14, 1898...
's main branch building is an architecturally unique structure in Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. It is located at 210 East, 400 South, across from the Salt Lake City and County Building
Salt Lake City and County Building
The Salt Lake City and County Building, usually called the "City-County Building", is the seat of government for Salt Lake City, Utah. The historic landmark formerly housed offices for Salt Lake County government as well, hence the name.- History :...
and Washington Square.
History
The Salt Lake City Public Library was originally housed in the Salt Lake City and County BuildingSalt Lake City and County Building
The Salt Lake City and County Building, usually called the "City-County Building", is the seat of government for Salt Lake City, Utah. The historic landmark formerly housed offices for Salt Lake County government as well, hence the name.- History :...
in 1898. Thanks to a donation of land and money by a John Quackenbos Packard in 1905, a new library
Old Hansen Planetarium
The Old Hansen Planetarium at 15 South State Street in Salt Lake City, Utah has served many functions throughout its history. Originally built in 1904 as the Salt Lake City Public Library, the building was renovated in 1965 to become the Hansen Planetarium...
was built in downtown Salt Lake City; the building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. This library remained in use until it outgrew the building in 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.
1994 hostage incident
On March 7, 1994, a gunman took several hostages in a conference room on the second floor of the old main branch building. The library was evacuated and SWAT teams were called in during a six-hour siege, which ended in the death of the gunman and the freeing of the hostages.Move to the current location
After celebrating the library's 100th anniversary in early 1998, an $84 million library bond was approved to move the library north half a block to its current location. The firm Moshe SafdieMoshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie, CC, FAIA is an architect, urban designer, educator, theorist, and author. Born in the city of Haifa, then Palestine and now Israel, he moved with his family to Montreal, Canada, when he was 15 years old.-Career:...
and Associates and local architects in VCBO Architecture designed the building, which opened to the public on February 8, 2003. The former building is now The Leonardo museum
The Leonardo (Salt Lake City)
The Leonardo is a culture, arts, and science center and museum in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is located at the former site of the main branch of the Salt Lake City Public Library...
.
On September 15, 2006, a small bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
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 has an area of 240000 square feet (22,296.7 m²) and is a five-story tall, wedge-shaped building. The library has a collection of over 500,000 books as well as subscriptions to over 60 newspapers and magazines and 163 internet capable computers.The structure includes 44960 cubic yards (34,374.4 m³) of concrete as well as 176368 square feet (16,385.1 m²) of glass. One of its features is the five-story curved glass wall. Designed by the same architect, the downtown Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library
Vancouver Public Library
The Vancouver Public Library is the third largest public library system in Canada, with more than 2.5 million items in its collections, 22 branches, approximately 375,000 cardholders, and nearly nine million item borrowings annually...
has a very similar design. This is clearly apparent in the main foyer
Foyer
A foyer or lobby is a large, vast room or complex of rooms adjacent to the auditorium...
and the sweeping outer facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
.
Outside the library is Library Square, a landscaped and paved plaza
Plaza
Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...
. Originally, much of what is now landscaped open space was to be out buildings, but Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Rocky Anderson
Rocky Anderson
Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson served two terms as the 33rd mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, between 2000 and 2008. He is the Executive Director of High Road for Human Rights...
asked for these to be left out and create a public park. There are several shops on the square as well as the studios of radio station KCPW-FM. Library Square is paved with limestone from Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Upon entering the five story building, one enters the "Urban Room", which has the same limestone paving as the square. The room extends for all five floors and ends with a skylight of 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²). More shops line one side of the Urban Room.
A rooftop garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
completes the structure. It is planted with tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s, grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es, flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
ing bulb
Bulb
A bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases. The leaves often function as food storage organs during dormancy.A bulb's leaf bases, known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions. At the center of the bulb is...
s and various perennial plant
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
s.
The whole library depends on natural lighting, reducing the need of lights in the library. A huge five story glass wall is where most of the light comes from.
- Spiraling fireplaces which occur on four of the floors and were designed to resemble a column of fire as 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, saves on heating costs.
- An art galleryArt galleryAn art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
displaying works of local artists. - A Coffee Shop with a "private staircase" which gives direct access to the Young Adult's Section.
- A Children's library.
- A Spiral "grand staircase" and three glass elevators.
- One of the largest, if not the largest, graphic novelGraphic novelA graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
collection in a public library. This is due in part to Night Flight Comics being located in Library Square and making numerous donations. - The oldest and largest zineZineA zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
collection in a public library. Currently the collection has about 6,000 zines, 15 subscriptions, and a number of reference books. - The library has also won Library JournalLibrary JournalLibrary Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
's 2006 library of the year award.
External links
- SLC Library Main Page
- USA Today article on SLC Main Library
- Archidose article on the library
- View a beautiful 360° Panorama of the Salt Lake City Library atrium.
- Salt Lake City Public Library at FamilySearch Research Wiki for genealogists