Reading Room: New and Reimagined Libraries of the American West

Reading Room: New and Reimagined Libraries of the American West documents a new generation of regional libraries that are redefining public space in the 21st century. Through text and photography, the book examines the libraries’ place and function in cities and rural communities alike. It makes a case for the urgent need for these buildings, which serve as part of a vital community in the post-pandemic digital age.

With bold and breathtaking photography by award-winning architectural photographer Lara Swimmer, writing by former Architectural Record critic Laura Raskin and a forward by Seattle City Librarian Marcellus Turner, this book will stand out in a market with few competitors.

Reading Room features 25 significant new and renovated main and branch libraries designed by a slate of nationally recognised architects representing the American South (Austin, Louisville, McAllen), Midwest (Madison, Minneapolis, St Paul, Tulsa) and West (Billings, Juneau, Los Angeles, Missoula, Newport, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle), and will appeal to those who love architecture; architects and library professionals; and students of design and urban planning.

Lara Swimmer

Lara Swimmer is an internationally published architecture photographer. She was made an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects for her contribution to the field in 2005 and was named one of the top 12 Women in Photography Internationally by Architizer in 2018.

Lara works on assignment for architecture and design firms, documenting civic buildings, art collections and environmental works, as well as private residences. With contributions to numerous publications in the design realm, she authored her own book on the Seattle Central Library, titled Process, in 2005. Her photography of museums and libraries has helped architecture firms to win countless national awards, and has been exhibited in museums, from the SF MoMA, the Milwaukee Museum of Art and the Guggenheim, NYC to Art Center Basel in Switzerland.

Laura Raskin

Laura Raskin is a writer and editor based in New York. She has covered architecture, design and urbanism for more than a decade, and her writing has been published in The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Review, Metropolis, Surface, Curbed and others. She was previously an editor at Architectural Record magazine and received her MA from Columbia University’s School of Journalism.