Salt Lake City Main Library: New facility is a mix of opulence and

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 6, 2003 by Brady SnyderDeseret News staff writer

The new City Library downtown is designed to be a mix 0f "ubercoolness" and functionality.

A billboard-size sculpture of a human head, fabricated of mechanical butterflies opening and closing their wings, will hang from the Urban Room's ceiling inside Salt Lake City's new downtown library.

Across the hall, patrons can check out books without waiting for help. In a system that works like self-serve grocery-store lines, patrons can scan their library cards, check out their books and be out the door.

It is this mix of extravagance and convenience that will be the hallmark of the city's new library, set to open Feb. 8 to much fanfare.

"We've created this fantastic building, but the true test comes when the public starts using it and determines whether they enjoy it," said former City Councilwoman Deeda Seed, who helped bring retail shops to the library. "That's really the measure of our success."

With a $65 million budget -- $50 million for the building and $15 million for the 600 underground parking stalls -- library staffers, architects and builders have made the library chic.

The glamour includes three granite gas fireplaces on four floors. The stacked fireplaces are set in the northwest corner of the building's triangle design where the walls meet in glass, giving patrons views of a bustling intersection and a roaring fire.

The Urban Room is similarly posh. The ceiling is glass, the floor paved with limestone quarried in the suburbs of Jerusalem -- the same stone that lines the library's outdoor plaza. The stone resembles sandstone and is reminiscent of Utah's abundant redrock.

Terraces grace the Urban Room's walls on each level. On the terraces, patrons can read and study on custom-made tables and plush faux-leather chairs. All the furniture, cabinets and bookshelves in the library are custom-made.

On the Urban Room's bottom level rests a small art gallery. The first floor holds retail that includes an airport-like newsstand, library gift shop, comic-book store, flower shop and a radio station, which will broadcast live from Library Square.

Out the north side of the Urban Room is a 300-seat auditorium complete with a loge, green room (for big stars) and catering services.

"I insisted that we have a loge so they gave me a loge," Salt Lake City libraries director Nancy Tessman said.

The catering kitchen can be used by parties who rent space in the library for special occasions. Even wedding parties are welcome, Tessman said.

The new and improved children's section is settled in a room known as "The Lens."

Outside The Lens' glass wall rests a reflecting pool, which drains into a waterfall next to the children's section, which is three to four times larger than the former downtown library's children's section.

Other improvements also cater to children. Inside one reading room dubbed "The Crystal Cave" children can read among large crystal designs similar to Superman's "Fortress of Solitude." Another reading room is built to look like a grandma's attic, complete with crooked beams and a small center stage were kids can develop skits.

"Many of our kids from the city have never seen a grandma's attic," Tessman said. "We always talk about grandma's attic, but they don't know what one looks like."

The kids area comes equipped with a coat closet, a room for nursing mothers, craft room and other story-telling rooms. There are also billowy, white shading devices -- meant to mimic clouds -- that librarians can deploy in case the sun through The Lens becomes too bright or hot.

Inside the triangle building's first floor there is a coffee shop hawking food, hot chocolate, coffee and other goodies. Drinks are allowed throughout the library (with few exceptions). However, food is allowed only in the cafe.

"Lots of people want to come in and spend some time with a book and drink coffee, so we're going to let them," Tessman said.

This coffee shop is connected by a semi-spiral staircase through The Lens that leads to the second-floor teenage section, affectionately dubbed "The Canteena." Here lies possibly the most controversial piece in the library -- the large plasma-screen television.

"I know I'm going to get flak for that," Tessman said.

She maintains the screen won't detract from the books by encouraging teenagers to watch even more mind-warping television. Instead, she says kids are reading more, but they are also watching television.

"They're just consuming more media in general," she said.

The Canteena may be noisy, and librarians promise no "sshhh-ing."

The library also has adult tutoring rooms where literacy, English- as-a-second-language and other classes will be offered in a semiprivate setting so no one will feel embarrassed, Tessman said.

One of the crown jewels of the library is the "Gallery at Library Square," an art hall designed for enhanced security so that the library can gain more exclusive exhibits, which require such guard. Already a surrealist exhibit, including works from Salvador Dali, is slated for March.

Beyond the gallery, art is interspersed throughout the library. On several floors there are large green and yellow abstract glass sculptures hanging from the ceiling.