I really like this library, the University Library of Utrecht (the Netherlands)

http://www.eikongraphia.com/?p=256

Im done living inside a book! I wanna live inside a library like those ones!!! :)

Are #2 & #3's labels reversed?

I love the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/staatsbibliothek/index.htm

I am a certified(able) bibliophile. I believe Niamh is correct. The labels for #2 & 3 appear to be reversed.

@ Niamh - No, but #3 and #4 are reversed.

Trinity College is the gorgeous old space and Kafka is the revolving wall bookcase.

Do I have to point out that Czechoslovakia doesn't exist anymore?

One of the most fun libraries I've ever visited in the library at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, near Grand Central. It's one of the largest law libraries in the world, and it is built with little iron catwalks and circular iron stairs to get up to the catwalks. Really old lawyers who don't want to admit that they're out of the game sit there all day in their formal suits at old fashioned wood desks and tables with beautiful green lights.

Of course, everything is now computerized, but the old-fashioned alternative is kept up for the sake of tradition.

michpc is rigt! Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic.
The libraries are gorgeous, by the way.

If it's tough appreciating these libraries, consider them relative to this beaut...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markestes/1454319957/

Ah, I love beautiful libraries...

Have a look at this one: Armagh Public Library in Northern Ireland! http://www.armaghrobinsonlibrary.org/ Also a long room with a gallery like Trinity, but a whole lot smaller. Will I make you envious? Will I?

This is where I work!!!

http://www.miragebookmark.ch/most-interesting-libraries.htm

ephi's got one of my favourites linked: Vancouver Public Library - over 20K people go into that library per day - and the design is such that lots of people pass through all the time. It's an amazing space.

Here's another fave: Chetham's Library in Manchester, UK, the oldest library in the English speaking world (founded 1653). http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauronsky/2976392043/

These are beautiful designs, but they're obsolete. Our computers' memory chips have taken the place of all those volumes.

@ebanfield, not until they are all scanned and digitized (and freely available to all!!!) and that's a long way off.

If you think that a computer takes the place of all this, then I think you might not get it.

Just to begin with, most of the knowledge and text in these books has not been digitized. There's just no other way to have access to this stuff other than to open the book.

And then there's the issue of the book being more than the sum of its parts. The size, dimension, font, margins, gutter, and a million other factors impact the reader's interaction with the text. This is why book design matters, and as of now, there's no way to duplicate that on a computer.

Nevermind the impact of these spaces as both architectural works and as public archives.

The Seattle Public Library IS really cool- visually. Not much else about it is so thrilling. It's super noisy, always crowded with loiterers, and above all, it smells terrible. I really do mean terrible. Pretty much unbearable and not a place where I'd feel comfortable lingering amongst the books.

Digitized books are also unable, IMHO, to replicate the gorgeous color plates contained in art/architecture/botany/history books.

Thanks for the corrections. They have been fixed in the post.

University of Oklahoma has a beautiful library, inside and out.

The American Antiquarian Society, built in 1909, in Worcester, Mass. has a beautiful reading room, with a domed ceiling and huge marble columns, floor to ceiling. I love working in such a historic and beautiful building!

http://www.americanantiquarian.org/ahall4.htm

Here's a lovely, though rather obscure, one:

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Mount_Angel_Library.html

Best of all, it's filled to the brim with original Aalto furniture. Oh, and some books too!

Library of Canadian Parliament - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cephalosporin/3635084459/

What, no pictures of the Mexico City library (unfortunately, unopened, last I heard) which has hanging racks and walkways...

Newberry Library (chicago) www.newberry.org

I'm happy to see Seattle on the list, but I think the Suzzallo library on the University of Washington should be too....

http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=all&q=suzzallo staircase&m=text