Editing Seattle Public Library (section)

===The 1960s===
[[File:Downtown Seattle Public Library, 1969.jpg|thumb|The Bindon and Wright downtown library (just below center), photographed here in 1969]]
[[File:Seattle - Magnolia Library 01.jpg|thumb|Stairs lead up through a garden to the Magnolia library]]
The city finally passed its first-ever library bond issue in 1956. This funded, among other things, a new $4.5 million, {{convert|206000|ft2|m2|adj=on}} central library, designed in the [[International style (architecture)|International style]] by the Seattle firm of Bindon & Wright, and built on the same site as its Carnegie predecessor. Dedicated March 26, 1960, it featured the first-ever [[escalator]] in an American library, a drive-up window for book pick-ups and was Seattle's first public building to incorporate significant new works of art. Among the artists represented were [[James FitzGerald (artist)|James FitzGerald]], [[Glen Alps]], and Ray Jensen. It also incorporated a fountain by sculptor [[George Tsutakawa]], the first of many fountains Tsutakawa would construct over the remainder of his career.<ref name=SPL-hist />

The new library energized the public library system. The library's official web site writes that "the atmosphere in the opening weeks was likened to a department store during the holiday shopping season. The new Central Library loaned out almost 1 million volumes in its first nine months, a 31 percent increase over the previous year's circulation." A library that had been "struggling with disinterest in a shabby headquarters" now found itself "loved to tatters," with greater demand than it could readily satisfy.<ref name=SPL-hist />

The 1956 bond issue also provided $500,000 for branch libraries. This paid for the construction of the Southwest Branch (1961), a new Ballard Branch (1963; later Abraxus Books<ref>Rebekah Schilperoort, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080704061809/https://ballardnewstribune.com/articles/2007/05/15/news/local_news/news01.txt Condo delayed; bookstore stays], ''Ballard News-Tribune'', May 15, 2007. Accessed online 29 August 2008. Archived from [https://ballardnewstribune.com/articles/2007/05/15/news/local_news/news01.txt the original] on July 4, 2008.</ref>), and the Magnolia Branch (1964). The Magnolia Branch was designed by [[Paul Hayden Kirk]] and incorporates the Japanese influences found in much Northwest architecture of the era. The bond issue also bought the land for the Broadview Branch, but did not provide the funds to build it; that branch finally opened in 1976.<ref name=SPL-hist />