Along with the travel mug and the laptop, fast becoming Seattle's latest cultural icon is the library card. More than 50,000 new Seattle Public Library cards have been issued in the past year, and with new community-inspired libraries opening up left and right across the city, this trend appears to be growing.

"Visits are not up in just the first few months or even the first year," said City Librarian Deborah Jacobs. "At some of the first (rebuilt) branches to reopen, like NewHolly and Wallingford, library use is still at record levels."

With voters approving nearly $400 million for library bond measures in the city and King County since 1998, it's hard to refute that this citizenry will put their money where their books are. We are a community of bibliophiles, according to a 2004 study that ranked Seattle nationwide as the second "most literate city." (We challenge top-ranked Minneapolis to a library-off!) When the last stack is assembled in 2007, Seattle will boast 22 improved and six new libraries, including the avant-garde Central Library downtown, which opened last May.

There's more than books to see. The distinctive new public buildings alone are worth a visit. Or a tour. Daily tours of the Central Library are free to the public. And an outing to see any of the new or rehabbed branches is something worthy of your weekend.

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES In the Learning Center at Seattle's Central Library, the 7,200-square-foot maple floor contains the opening lines from 500 texts in 11 languages. They are embossed backward to represent the way type is set and to mimic the sensation of learning to read.

"This is not a building that gets immediate warm fuzzies," admitted Paul Crowther, architect and Seattle Public Library docent, on a recent architectural tour of the Central Library. "I love this building. And after this tour you may or may not love it, but hopefully you'll understand it better."

Many find it's a building that demands a lot on a first visit — the floors are different sizes and shapes, the outside seeps inside and the inside out, and signage is still a work in progress. But once you are introduced to the thinking behind the design, using the library quickly becomes second nature. Ease of use was a main design objective in this collaborative effort of famous Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture; Seattle's LMN, known for Benaroya Hall and McCaw Hall, and library staff, with input from a variety of patron groups.

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES All the rooms in the Central Library are open to the public, even if they have no apparent purpose other than to transit from one collection to the next.

"A lot of people who walked by the building before it was complete assumed it was an arbitrary sculptural shape or architectural gesture," said Sam Miller, project director on the downtown library for LMN. "It's anything but. The whole shape of the building is all about how the building needs to function."

The planning team started by listing every element of the library — from its large-print collection to payphones — and grouping like with like. They combined these program elements into "platforms," which became the basis for the library floor arrangements you see today. Then they pushed and pulled here and there to capture daylight and views, hence the unorthodox shape. One of the biggest challenges was designing the floors so that library materials wouldn't eventually overwhelm the people using the library. Think back to the catacomb-like passageways of its predecessor.

BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES The Seattle Central Library, at the corner of 4th Avenue and Madison Street.

"By the end the books had taken over like a virus," explained Miller. "They had completely blocked the windows and cramped open space. One of our main goals was to constrain that growth so books would not infringe on the public spaces."

Another part of the puzzle was addressing the biggest problem facing all library planners today: Library materials (think DVDs, Internet connections, books on CD) are changing by the minute, yet as a public building, the library needs to be workable for at least 50 years. One creative solution here is the book spiral, a series of ramps housing the non-fiction collection. The worm-like body of books is designed to shrink and expand depending on the needs of each topic area. (The library's 6,233 bookcases boast 780,000 books and can hold up to 1,450,000 without adding a single shelf!)

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Docent Judith van Praag leads a group through the Central Library on one of the free, daily architectural tours. General tours, with a greater focus on the services of the library and the functions of the various floors and spaces, are also offered daily.

It's obvious on even a cursory visit that this building celebrates Seattle's natural as well as intellectual wealth. While you're admiring a 1912 copy of "How to Design a Modern Aeroplane," in the Aviation Room, Mount Rainier keeps an eye on you from behind stacks. Elliott Bay mirrors the late afternoon sun on the way to the Mixing Chamber computers, and gulls wing past as you settle down to study in the reading room.

"If I stood at one spot in the library at 2:06 p.m. it would look different every single day," said City Librarian Deborah Jacobs. "The light will come in and a new shadow will pop out and surprise me."

"I think of it as a winter garden," said Bill LaPatra, an architect with Mithun who worked on the award-winning Bellevue Library, among others. "Buildings are for shelter, yet we all love the outdoor environment. This building does a good job of blending the two. We all love reading in a daylight-drenched space like a window seat in a reading nook. This building is a gigantic window seat."

Already, it has collected awards, including the American Institute of Architects' 2005 Honor Award for Outstanding Architecture, one of 13 winners of the prestigious honor.

Central Library

Take an architectural tour (offered daily, one hour; free): Monday-Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.; Thursdays, 4:30 p.m.; Fridays, 12:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 11:30 a.m., 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.; Sundays, 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. General tours, with a greater focus on the services of the library and the functions of the various floors and spaces, are also offered daily, at different times. Tours in Spanish, 2 p.m. Saturdays. (All Seattle libraries are closed this Sunday.) For a full schedule, see www.spl.org, select Central Library and click on "tours," or call 206-733-9609.

Public tours are first-come, first-served and are limited to 20 participants. The tours often fill. Sign-up sheets for each day's tours are made available when the library opens and are located at the Information Desk on Level 3, just inside the Fifth Avenue entrance to the library. Sign-up must be done in person; reservations will not be accepted by phone or by e-mail. (Group tours and school groups require advance arrangements. Call 206-733-9609.)

More information

"Civic Libraries: Lessons Learned," April 7, 5:30 p.m., Seattle Central Library, main auditorium, general public: $25. Aimed at the design community, The American Institute of Architects Seattle Chapter sponsors this panel discussion on the evolution of library design and the effect of today's libraries on our communities and culture. Call 206-448-4938 to register.

The 126,767-square-foot glass-curtain wall draped over the building brings the outside in while sheltering the interior from the elements. Beating the Seattle energy code by 10 percent, half the glass is triple-glazed to prevent heat loss, with a mesh insert to reduce heat buildup. Environmentally progressive building ideas were a top priority for library staff. Miller credits them for keeping architects on the path to a silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Flooring choices such as bamboo and wood scrap, on-site water collection and construction recycling all attributed to this distinction.

Another major challenge facing planners was how to double the size of the library without doubling staff. Technologies such as an automatic book sorter and the Vocera wireless "walkie-talkies" worn by staff help, but efficiency was a driver in every design decision. The children's area shelves are kid-sized, and this section is situated near an entrance with easy stroller access and plenty of restrooms. The Mixing Chamber acts like an information funnel allowing patrons to access whatever they need without even looking at a stack if they don't want to.

But people are using the stacks, reports Jacobs. Dewey decimal numbers posted in the elevator and printed on the floors help guide patrons to their books (plus the aid of ubiquitous librarians), and specially diffused lighting allows people to see clearly even to the bottom shelves.

Ten months after opening, Jacobs is rewarded daily by the fact that Central is working as a library, but she's quick to note a few things she'd do differently. Most of them have to do with the record number of visitors — up to 15,000 people a day — which planners just didn't bargain for. Painted floors were a bad idea, and a new floor covering is in the works. If she could wave a magic wand, Jacobs would put public restrooms on more levels (they are now on three), and add elevators. Signage, though an expected challenge, is still not complete.

These problems aside, as reflected in the awestruck faces of those who come through the doors for the first time, planners see a building that's fulfilling their wildest dreams. If books are adventures waiting to be opened, the Central Library is a trip around the world to be embarked upon and savored.

"This is a lifetime building," said LaPatra. "Meant to be visited over and over again."

And remember, you can go back whenever you like. It's yours.

Kathryn True is a freelance writer who lives on Vashon Island.