Earlier this week, the Atlantic profiled the changing role of the 21st-century librarian as the way we access information continues to evolve. We’ve seen the way some libraries have grown to catch up and meet this demand, resulting in some pretty wacky designs and new services. In appreciation of libraries and their vital role in our society, here are ten unusual libraries around the world that we love.
The Mongolian Children’s Mobile Library helps transport books to children in hard-to-reach areas.
The Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Library is the first permanent airport library in the world.
The A47 Mobile Library is uniquely designed and can be transformed to fit a number of situations.
The library at Soneva Kiri Resort, on an island in the Gulf of Thailand, is located inside the den and features books on permaculture and local traditions.
The Vasconcelos Library or “megalibrary” in Mexico City is 409,000 square feet of biblio-power.
The Saint Catherine’s Monastery library houses one of the greatest collections of Christian texts in the world, with over 1.8 million pages of script.
The Picture Book Library was created by Japanese architect Tadao Ando.
A Black Sea beach library that contains 2,500 books in 10 languages.
The Levinski Garden Library was created to support the migrant worker community in Tel Aviv. It’s installed by a bus station where workers congregate on the weekends.
Raul Lemesoff’s Weapon of Mass Instruction library is housed in a converted 1979 Ford Falcon that stores 900 books, inside and out.