

Take a peek at the world's most exquisite libraries - kseven
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/27/world/gallery/most-beautiful-libraries-in-the-world/index.html?sr=fb113013libraries2p

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bane
It's kind of sad in a way...Libraries, as repositories of books, may slowly be
going on the way out. Up until college I collected a decent sized library of
books and a few shelves of professional books since then. My personal library
fills up a small bedroom comfortably. It's not fancy, a little over a half
dozen IKEA bookshelves, packed to the ceiling with books that decorate the
room. My books are roughly arranged by personal theme, not any formal system.
Books on ancient history on these shelves, light sci-fi/fantasy on these,
serious literature here, technical references on these, etc.

But about 3 or 4 years ago it just... _stopped_. Pretty much everything I want
to read through leisure is digital, and almost all of my professional needs
likewise.

I realized that what I liked about libraries was not just the books, but the
notion that it's a place to collect knowledge, organize it, make it available
-- to celebrate knowledge. I decided to move a small desk, a chair, some
lights, my NAS, a wifi router and an old laptop to control the digital bits.
My library now has gone high tech and I think it fits right in with the book
collection. I put my CDs, DVDs, etc. in the same room.

I now access all of my collected data, from my library either digitally or
physically from Tablets around my home. It's cleaned up lots of the rest of my
house and makes a kind of cognitive sense to do it this way. Toss in various
curio I've picked up, a few instruments, various other sentimental items and
it's one of my favorite places to be and I'm very proud of it.

I love the libraries in this article, but I'm often more interested in the
large personal libraries of well-read rich folks. The curio they've chosen to
collect, the way they've designed and built the place.
[http://flavorwire.com/261320/](http://flavorwire.com/261320/)

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hsmyers
It is usually against the rules to drool in libraries...

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S4M
It's great but it looks to me that those libraries are not intended for people
to work in, except for the Utrecht library in Holland.

~~~
milesskorpen
... and the Andover library, and the Merton College library, and the Beinecke
Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

