page_title: Austin Public Library
section_title: Central Library
hierarchical_section_title: Austin Public Library / Central Library
caption_attribution_description: English: New Austin, Texas public library opened on October 28th 2017 and this shows the interior from the 6th floor.
context_page_description: Austin Public Library is a public library system serving Austin, Texas, United States. It is operated by the City of Austin and consists of the Central Library on Cesar Chavez Street, the Austin History Center, 20 branches and the Recycled Reads bookstore and upcycling facility.
context_section_description: In 1972, Austin voters passed a $6 million bond for a new central library to be built on an adjacent site at West 8th and Guadalupe. Jessen Associates, founded by Bubi Jessen and Wolf Juessen, designed this central library in the New Formalist style under the direction of architect Fred Day. Construction began in 1976, and the building opened to the public on April 11, 1979. John Henry Faulk, a local writer and free speech advocate who would be the building's namesake, was the keynote speaker at the dedication ceremony on August 26, 1979.
  The Faulk Central Library was 110,000 square feet (10,000 m²) on five stories (the first three open to the public, with the fourth floor reserved for the administrative offices, and the basement reserved for storage/utilities).
  In the spring of 2013, the City of Austin broke ground on a 6-story new central library overlooking Shoal Creek and Lady Bird Lake, funded in large part by a bond program approved by Austin voters in 2006. The building is part of the city's extensive redevelopment of the former Seaholm Power Plant site, east of the intersection of Lamar Boulevard and Cesar Chavez Street. It opened to the public on Saturday October 28, 2017. The building was designed by a joint venture of San Antonio-based Lake Flato Architects, known for their energy-efficient and sustainable projects; and Boston-based Shepley Bulfinch, successor to the firm founded by 19th century architect Henry Hobson Richardson. The new central library offers a living rooftop garden, reading porches, an indoor reading room and a bicycle corral, large indoor and outdoor event spaces, a gift shop, an art gallery and a café run by the ELM Restaurant Group.
  In April 2018, Austin Public Library hosted their first Kids Block Party. The event encourages families with children to promote learning through play and fosters a love of reading.
caption: The new central library (opened on October 28th 2017), showing the interior from the 6th floor.
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