Central Public Library – Austin, TX

We drove past the central library several times during our trip before I knew it was the library, and each time I was struck by the modern and eye-catching design.

Loved this fun sign near the front entrance! For the record, the building does have a small parking garage that is available to library patrons, but it has very limited space and the sign that lets you know if it has open spaces is less than accurate. It’s worth a shot in case you get lucky, but if you’re driving there, I would just expect to look for street parking.

The interior design is even more striking than the exterior. I was in awe of the expansive, airy feel. Caroline clearly found it quite relaxing.

That is until we reached this fun room in the children’s department where she made instant friends with other kids and played and played and played!

Another view of the children’s department. Caroline was way too wound up to read while we were there though. I did appreciate the friendly librarians that approached us about summer reading activities and other things going on at the library. In retrospect, I really wished we had visited on the first day we were there so we knew what was available and could have participated in some of it. Live and learn.

Okay, so this porch for the children’s department is insanely cool! I think if I lived nearby, I might come there every single day. It is beautiful, colorful, and well childproofed.

One incredible porch just wasn’t quite enough for this library, so they added another one on the upper level. I would love to set up camp there to read, work, knit, or all of the above. Seriously amazing!

This was the view from the edge of the upper level porch. I seriously could have stayed up there all day. What a dream.