From spit-and-polished Carnegies to modern architectural standouts and innovative remodels, the new and renovated neighborhood libraries are well worth a visit.

For maps and hours, see www.spl.org, and use the Library Locator to select a branch. When you visit, look for fact sheets that provide historical, architectural and collections information. Some branches have brochures on art at their locations.

Here are a few of the standouts:

Beacon Hill

2821 Beacon Ave. S., Seattle, 206-684-4711 Opened July 2004 Architect: Carlson Architects

As with all of the neighborhood libraries, the community played a huge role in the design process. It was a neighbor's idea to put cafe tables in the lobby — resulting in a popular impromptu meeting and lunch spot.

Another community member liked the Craftsman-style homes of the area and her feedback resulted in overlapping slate "shingles" reminiscent of wood siding. The children's area is punctuated by a playful castle cutout which branch manager JulieAnn Oiye and her staff recently found also frames the rising wintertime full moon.

Greenwood

8016 Greenwood Ave. N., Seattle, 206-684-4086 Opened January 2005 Architect: Buffalo Design

A connection and reverence for nature is a theme throughout the neighborhood libraries, and Greenwood, the latest to open, is no exception. There's a feeling of walking into a garden, as copper accents wind like stems up a green screen wall that contains the children's area.

Kids climb like mountain goats over a pile of real boulders that seem to tumble in from outside.

Blossom-like light fixtures adorn soaring ceilings and a clerestory window runs the length of the building, filling the library with daylight even on cloudy days. A salvaged red elm from Carnation was crafted into eye-catching wooden tabletops.

High Point

Opened June 2004

Architect: Miller Hayashi Architects

This library sails like a wooden schooner between two neighborhoods, High Point and Morgan Junction. Two equally prominent main entrances lend each community a feeling of ownership.

Details inside continue a nautical theme, as "sky canoe" lights reminiscent of ferryboats drift over the children's reading area, and anchor-like attachments hold fast to steel beams overhead. High windows bring lots of daylight into the homey space.

Don't miss the Olympic Mountains view from the meeting room (ask a staff person to open it for you), terra-cotta tile sculptures that illustrate indigenous star stories of local ethnic populations, the Scholar's Tree in the east court and no-tip chairs that teens can tilt back on.

If it's raining, check out the Japanese rain drains at the corners of the building, which create fountains in a suitable downpour.

Ballard

5614 22nd Ave. N.W., Seattle, 206-684-4089 To open May 14, 2005

Architect: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

The community lobbied hard for this central location (one block off Market Street) to make the library a cornerstone of a new municipal center. The building also houses a new neighborhood service center, with a city park and amphitheater soon to be developed across the street.

Also at neighbors' urging, designers have taken green literally here, with a "living" roof (planted with sedums) that will reduce and cleanse storm-water runoff, and provide insulation.

The roof also features a stretch of solar panels that will plug energy back into the grid in friendly competition with vertical solar collectors (a first in the country) embedded in the glass front of the service center.

Green building features run in, under and around this building, with recycled materials, including gypsum board, carpet, toilet partitions, glass tile, ceiling tile and concrete.

Other area libraries of interest:

Bellevue Regional Library (King County Library System)

1111 110th Ave. N.E., Bellevue, 425-450-1765 Architect: Zimmer, Gunsul, Frasca Partnership

A public plaza borders one side of this light-filled glass and red sandstone structure, which won several major design awards when it opened in 1993.

North Mason Timberland Library

Architect: Carlson Architect, P.S.

A focal point of this small, rural community, the building reflects the town's logging history with a design inspired by local mill-run sheds.

Mukilteo Library (Sno-Isle System)

4675 Harbour Pointe Blvd., Mukilteo, 425-493-8202 Architect: Lewis Architecture + Interior Design

Set among ravines and wetlands, this library's lofty interior reflects the woodland setting with exposed beams, a slate fireplace and lots of windows for views and natural light.

King County Library System

Also making system-wide upgrades thanks to a capital bond measure is the King County Library System. Currently in various phases of meeting and design processes are these libraries: Burien, Covington, Kenmore, Snoqualmie, Park Lake and Newcastle.

For news, visit: www.kcls.org/yourlibraryinvestment/.