69. Hennepin County, Walker, Minneapolis

I remember when this was built. It's a strange building, mostly underground, and it's the next on the Hennepin list for replacement. There is a pay phone in the lobby, not something you see very often these days. Although it's underground, the adult browsing area has windows onto a sunken garden. Kids' area does not have natural light, but is bright and spacious with a good collection and a terrific fairy tale mural on one wall. There is curved 2-tier seating. There were NO kids in the library at 2:30 pm, which seemed strange and lonely. A sign I haven't seen before: "Do you have concerns about the privacy of your library records? Talk to a librarian." Outside there is a grassy rooftop reading garden with huge 3D metal letters LIBRARY. I discovered a few days later, on a bus from a different direction, that it would have been nice to take the picture from the west, not the southeast. Oh, well.

7/27/12, bus