This part of the inner lobby is now the checkout desk, and the section of the card catalogue (long gone--the BPL now has a nifty, customer-friendly computer system) shown here has been replaced by a nice cafe. The building is still breathtaking, a joy to walk into.

As they say, "Less is more."

I just love how bare the library lobby is. Furthermore, look at the librarians' desk. No phone, no computer, no clutter!

Amazing!!!

I know that many great buildings have large spatial volumes, but for a library, there sure is a lot of open space where you would expect either sitting areas, magazine areas, book shelves, more card catalogs, etc.

And to think, the area where the card catalog is here would easily hold the entire contents of the library, in electronic form today, including racks to put electronic book readers and places to sit.