Photo: Stuttgart Library

Nicknamed “Book Mountain” by its designers at Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, the new 100,000 square foot public library in Spijkenisse, Netherlands is an 85 foot tall glass pyramid housing a spiraling arrangement of bookcases within. Visitors to the library can peruse more than 10,000 feet of shelves and enjoy a bit of reading at a café at the top of the pyramid.

Photo: Stuttgart Library

Stuttgart Library

Photo: Vennesla Library

Vennesla Library & Cultural Center

Vennesla, Norway

"The new library in Vennesla comprises a library, a café, meeting places and administrative areas and links an existing community house and learning centre together."

Video: Troy Library Campaign

Troy Library from Jennie Hochthanner

Via: Neil Gaiman

Why a proposed book-burning party was a Very Good Thing Indeed.

Photo: LiYuan Library

LiYuan Library

News: Abandoned Walmart reclaimed as Library

The McAllen Public Library in McAllen, Texas, is the size of 2.5 football fields — the largest single-story library in the United States. But in its former life, its size wasn’t all that unusual. That’s because the McAllen library used to be a Walmart.

Photo: Stuttgart Library

New library in Stuttgart by DieterJL

Infographic: Anatomy of a Librarian

Anatomy of a Librarian 

Surprisingly, they're not all old ladies...

No statistics available on how many slay Vampires on the side.

Link: Open Library

Open Library offers over 1.7 million public domain books in PDF, ePub, Daisy, DjVu and ASCII text through its affiliation with the Internet Archive.

At its heart, Open Library is a catalog. The project began in November 2007 and has been inhaling catalog records from some of the biggest libraries in the world ever since. They have well over 20 million edition records online, provide access to 1.7 million scanned versions of books.

Holiday: Public Library Appreciation Day!

Happy Public Library Appreciation Day!

"National Library Week is April 12 this year, and this week-long celebration gives individuals a chance to truly recognize all the great things these ancient institutions have to offer. From free books to career courses, libraries are a source of information and inspiration for young minds and can be a lifesaver for those facing tough economic times. Whether you choose to honor your college library or one in your community, here are a few ways that you can use this week to promote, appreciate and praise your local cornerstones."

Celebrate the day by browsing photo galleries of The United States’ Most Beautiful Libraries and The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries. Learn more at the Public Library Appreciation Day wiki or read a list of 50 Great Ways to Celebrate on Library Appreciation Day.

Music Video: Library Girl by ReinaDelCid

Library Girl by ReinaDelCid

 

Yes, technically that's the Library of Congress classification system, not the Dewey Decimal system, which kind of makes me think she doesn't really work in a library, but the nerd rings true.  And you can't tell me that cute nerd girls singing in the middle of the stacks doesn't just completely melt your heart.

"Pu-uu-uu-uu-ccini"

 

All I can say is thank God for YouTube, because there was just waaay too little of this in the world before it came along.

Photo: AIU Library

AIU Library
Akita, Japan

Source: jjreade Flickr Photostream

Photo: Royal Portuguese Reading Room

Real Gabinete Português de Leitura (Royal Portuguese Reading Room)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The interior of Real Gabinete Português is four stories tall, capped with a stained-glass cupola and illuminated by an elaborate chandelier. Built in 1837 by the Portuguese, the reading room contains over 350,000 volumes, many of them from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Source: Soldon's Flickr Photostream [Translation]

Photo: NYC Public Library

NYC Public Library by Michael Hong

Library Parodies Old Spice Guy Ads

Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library has just created the internet's most popular library promotional video.


In a 50 second spot, a university student channels the Old Spice guy, urging students to start using the library to study. Inside five days of its release, the video earned over 1.2 million views on YouTube.

The New Spice Blog has behind-the-scene photos from the production and crew credits.