Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library




Our thanks to Susan Marchant for a wonderful tour of the new facility. Please check the official web site of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. Also see photos from the official Grand Opening Celebration in January 2002.

This view of the addition's exterior was taken before consturction was finished.

Exterior view of the library's new front entrance.

The dome over the entrance, external view.

Looking up at the dome, immediately inside the entrance.

Entrance as seen from the second level.

Dottie Lou looks into the domed entrance.

View, looking west, of the current reading room. Stained glass windows came for the first Topeka public library.

View of the reference desk. This desk will be moved as additional space becomes available for adult books.

The photo is a close-up of a chambered nautilus fossil in the marble floor of the front entranceway.

The upstairs walkway is a perfect place to watch the sun move east to west.

Sunlit view of the atrium along the central corridor.

This is the current stacks area for adult books. This space will double with more construction.

The library will eventually have 140+ computers. This is one workstation.

We rested in the pleasant lounge area of the Quiet Reading Room.

This is a closeup of detailing on furniture designed by M. Graves.

This is the end of a shelving unit in the new stacks area.

A view of reading
desks in the new
Quiet Reading
Room.

The "Talking Books" area has audio resources stored in stacks.

Larry Peters, curator of the library's gallery. The Sabatini Art Gallery is currently under construction.

Larry shares his scale model of plans for gallery space.

State-of-the- art electronics control this mechanized book sorter.

These books have been sorted and await reshelving.

Currently, 40% of the adult collection is stored in the basement awaiting space in its new home.