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
Apr 8, 2026Seattle, Washington

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Apr 3, 2026Armbrug bridge, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Mar 2, 2019You won’t see this on Mulberry Street
Feb 22, 2022Twosday
Feb 10, 2022The Old City of Bern
Jan 13, 2018Fire-damaged forest near Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado
Nov 20, 2023World Childrens Day
Jan 21, 2020Observing a squirrelly day
Apr 26, 2024Arbor Day
Feb 20, 2022World Whale Day
Feb 25, 2021Trevi in bloom
Sep 16, 2018Mexico celebrates its Independence Day
May 12, 2018It’s World Migratory Bird Day
Oct 14, 2021Happy birthday, Saguaro National Park
Oct 28, 2025The Gothic Gate in the Adršpach-Teplice Rocks, Czechia
Oct 1, 2022Yosemite National Park turns 132
Oct 19, 2018Portland celebrates its bounty
Nov 11, 2018Poppies for Armistice Day
Jul 28, 2020Over the boardwalk
Nov 12, 2019Sleep tight, little hedgehog
May 29, 2025Miravet, Catalonia, Spain
Aug 20, 2020Up in the Highlands
Nov 9, 2024Aït Benhaddou, Morocco
Dec 5, 2024Tufa formations in Mono Lake, California
Oct 8, 2021An uncommonly cool critter
Apr 21, 2025International Dark Sky Week
Mar 25, 2019Greece celebrates its independence
Jan 23, 2019Celebrating Pie Day is as easy as, well…
Feb 14, 2020Two rocks and a heart spot
Oct 28, 2019A night on the (ghost) town
Aug 26, 2022Kiteboarding and windsurfing in Croatia