The 50 Best Libraries In The United States

Nothing says "library" more than ancient Greek design elements, of which the sprawling white Ben May Main Library has plenty. The building, which opened in 1928, is also on the National Register of Historic Places, so you can browse its original wood bookshelves while experiencing a slice of Alabama history. 

The best thing about Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum (SLAM) is that its design is inspired by the culture and landscape of Alaska. Its curved roof references a bird's protective wing, and its high windows keep visitors connected to the surrounding mountainous landscape as they're reading inside. 

Arabian Library is a modern library that takes inspiration from its landscape — the sprawling desert canyons of northern Arizona. It's not hard to get the reference with its weathered walls and narrow "canyon courts," which open up to the sky.

The Hillary Rodham Clinton Children's Library and Learning Center was built in 2013 as a place to foster imagination and appreciate nature. But this library's not just about the books — it also has a performance space, a teaching kitchen, a greenhouse and vegetable garden, and an arboretum. 

How can a trip to the library feel dull when the books are being held in a futuristic structure that almost appears to be floating? This building, named for Audrey Geisel and Theodor Seuss Geisel, or "Dr. Seuss," is just as imaginative as its namesake. 

What's as awe-inducing as the number of rare books Yale University's Beinecke Library holds (about 1 million, for the record)? To be frank, what holds them: A large glass tower that stands tall at the center of this marble, granite and bronze structure. 

Browsing the bookshelves in a suspended glass structure, surrounded by a beautiful green park? Count us in. The Hockessin Public Library is beautifully simple and easy to navigate. 

Built in 2015, this ultra-modern library exudes warmth and comfort through a scattering of color and a wood and brick design. On the outside, the building is meant look like the craftsman style homes that are popular in the area, so visitors feel at ease from the moment they arrive. 

Sometimes fundamental design can be incredibly inviting in a library. Georgia State University's 300,000-square-foot library is all about clarity with abundant natural light, glass-rimmed staircases and glass-enclosed bridges that hold study spaces. 

This library's exterior is pure Roman elegance with 20-foot high Tuscan Columns and 18-foot arches. Inside though, the design is all Hawaiian: You'll find murals of famous Hawaiian legends and a garden courtyard with a mosaic depicting ocean currents.

The town of Coeur D'alene is named after a neighboring lake, so it's fitting that its public library has views straight to the water. The neutral-hued library, which opens up onto a neighboring park, also won an Idaho Library of the Year Award in 2012.

The 19th-century Iowa State Law Library is the stuff of fairytales with its twisting staircases that look like delicate lacework and seemingly endless rows of bookshelves that hold more than 100,000 volumes. 

Lawrence Public Library blurs the lines between library and giant piece of modern art, so it's no surprise that it won a AIA/ALA Library Building Award and a Landmark Libraries Award from Library Journal. Thanks to an $18 million renovation completed in 2014, it features a sleek glass and terracotta exterior and a community reading room that wraps around the entire library.

This impressive 455-thousand-square-foot, six-story building holds 1.2 million volumes. As if the building itself wasn't enough, it also previously featured a 3,700-pound chandelier in its central atrium, but it fell in 2014 and hasn't been replaced since. 

Old-fashioned libraries are a thing of the past, and hi-tech, green ones are in, as East Baton Rouge Parish Library proves. The award-winning library opened in 2014 with large stained glass windows, a rooftop terrace and garden, a plaza with water features, a recycled paper waterfall spanning three floors and a sloped roof that catches and feeds rainwater to surrounding plants. 

Maine's largest city is full of Victorian architecture, so this bright, modern building with a glass façade truly stands out from the crowd.

When it was completed 1878, the George Peabody Library was described as a "cathedral of books," and it's easy to see why with its 61-foot high ceiling and an enormous skylight. Cast-iron balconies with columns with gold-leaf detailing hold five floors of books — aka 300,000 volumes.