Harold Washington Library (Chicago)

Last week, I had the chance to visit family in Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday. Serving the third largest city in the United States, the Chicago Public Library system is one of the largest public collections in the country at over 5.7 volumes. It consists of the Harold Washington Library Center and 79 other branches spread throughout the city. I decided to visit Harold Washington, the central library of the system located in the south loop in downtown Chicago.

In 1987, Chicago Mayor Harold Washington approved funding of a new central library project. Construction began a year later, and the library opened its doors to the public in 1991. Named after the first African-American mayor of the city, Harold Washington Library is has 10 floors, and even after several hours I was only able to see a small section of the building.

It was interesting seeing how the climate of Chicago compared to that of San Diego has shaped the architecture of each library's architecture. The Harold Washington library is much more self-contained; it's all in one big rectangular building that takes up an entire city block, and it's well insulated but doesn't have much natural light throughout the building. Conversely, the Central Library in San Diego has a much more open feel, with different balconies and terraces and several buildings combined into one large library complex.

What holds constant, however, is that both these libraries are some of the largest public libraries in the country, fairly new, extremely nice, and play an fundamental role in their communities.

Rancho Bernardo

Of the five-ish months that I've been working on this project, I'd yet to visit a library in North County. I figured I'd remedy that imbalance by making the trip up to the Rancho Bernardo branch library, the farthest north of any library in the system, and the longest distance from the Central Library downtown (around 25 miles as the car drives). Such is the nature of Rancho Bernardo-- it's large, sprawling, upscale, but somewhat geographically isolated, the northern-most community with San Diego's city limits.

This isolation was intended; Rancho Bernardo began to take shape in the 1960s as a planned community. The community largely white collar and upper middle class, inhabited by families. A lot of investment in made in Rancho Bernardo's public facilities, and the library branch is no exception.

Stacks

Study Spaces

Outside of the Central Library, this branch has been my favorite one to visit so far. For one thing, it's a pleasure to just look at and be in. The earthy tones of the library complement the geography of the area well, and the walls of windows and tall ceilings give the building a bright yet relaxed feel. Also, despite the library's size and amount of patrons (it's one of the busiest in the system), it's very quiet, at least on a Saturday morning when I visited. It has a lot of individual cubicles and work tables, and as large a collection of books, magazines, CDs, and other media as any branch in the system. The library also has a second floor with several meeting rooms, making it one of the most popular locations for SDPL meetings and events.

North County is home to a majority of San Diego's tech and pharmaceutical companies, and the library kind of gave me the feel of an upscale office building or research institute. A lot of this feel can be attributed to its sheer size; at almost 23,000 sq ft, it's one of the largest branches in the system. It's also one of the newest, built in 1996. Overall, I highly recommend visiting the branch, even if it is a bit out of the way. 

Seating Area leading to Courtyard

View from 2nd Floor