If you prefer to explore on your own, maps can be found at the information desks on Levels 1 and 2. The term "level" instead of floor conjures the image of a giant video game, but follow your intuition and you're likely to win. If you get lost, look for the glowing chartreuse-colored elevators and escalators. Here are some highlights by level:

Level 1 (Fourth Avenue entrance). At the checkout counter, the high-tech book-handling system is an investment in efficiency; it automatically scans and sorts up to 1,400 items an hour. In the Learning Center, explore art by toe on Ann Hamilton's 7,200-square-foot maple floor. Here the opening lines from 500 texts in 11 languages are embossed backward to represent the way type is set and to mimic the sensation of learning to read. (Fact sheets provide details on other library art installations.) Located nearby are the airy children's center and the auditorium, with a clever design that opens to the third level for spillover seating. Take the escalator to Level 3. (Level 2 is a staff floor.)

Level 3 (Fifth Avenue entrance). Living Room. This is a good place to get oriented before visiting the upper floors, so get a coffee (covered drinks are allowed throughout the building) and take a seat. From the information desk a staff person can point you to any level. The living room is about relaxed exploration: Browse new books, Northwest authors or the latest periodicals. An ongoing pick-up chess game is testimony to the laid-back atmosphere. The teen center features sound domes where listeners can turn up their tunes without turning off their neighbors. Near the Friends of the Library gift shop are the stairs to the next level.

Level 4. Meeting. As you ascend into the reds of the meeting room hallway you feel as if you've entered a fun house or the back room of a trendy bar. Look closely, as the "red" actually comprises many shades from vermilion to fuchsia. Caution to the red-green color-blind: The monochromatic theme may cause loss of depth perception. Take in a filtered view of the living room through a transparent curtain wall. Stairs lead to the next level.

Level 5. Mixing Chamber. Synapses are firing on this "trading floor of information," where librarians pool their knowledge and tap technology to answer questions quickly. More than 300 public computer terminals await your Googles. Take a moment to turn Deborah Jacobs' favorite 360-degree view by standing between the elevators and the outside wall. Then slowly ascend into book heaven on the glowing green escalator.

Levels 6-9. Book Spiral. In addition to books, every level has copy machines, computers and librarians-at-the-ready. Spiral 7 features the Aviation Room, magazines and newspapers. Spiral 8 is home to music CDs, and two music practice rooms with digital keyboards (eavesdrop while pretending to wait for an elevator). Spiral 9 houses genealogy, the map room and a writer's room available by reservation. Peek behind the elevators on each level and you may spy an artist rendering the view.

Level 10. Reading Room. Come here to pore over materials gleaned in the Mixing Chamber, check e-mail in a private carrel, or relax with a book away from the busier floors below. The padded ceiling is not to keep the loftier among us from bumping their heads, but to minimize noise. The Seattle Room features an intriguing historical collection, which is available to browse but cannot be checked out. (Hours will expand April 2: Monday, noon-8 p.m.; Tuesday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m.). For non-acrophobics only: Round the elevators to the left for a vertigo vantage of the living room seven stories below. Level 11 is headquarters, for staff only. Return via elevator to any level.

— Kathryn True