Library Chicken: King County Library System Is Awesome! Let's See it All

Friday, February 14, 2025

King County Library System Is Awesome! Let's See it All

Gotta Visit Them All

A small, cosy library with a convenient atrium, an enclosed children’s section, and compact nooks for Teens and computer users.

Auburn

The statue of a hungry crow outside the library is a great start, and the library inside is a winner. A safe children’s area, stacks and cosy nooks for YA and reading, and some lovely quilt like plaques over the wall with the holds.

Bellevue

Black Diamond

Bothell

A cosy library with a nice meeting room near the children’s section where I’ve seen performances, and a large nonfiction children’s section adjacent, although that does make it easier for kids to escape. I also liked the small enclosed patio if patrons want to read outside on nice days. There were several cool statues in various reading nooks.

Boulevard Park

Burian

Carnation

Covington

Crossroads

Des Moines

Duvall

Enumclaw

Fairwood

Fall City

Federal Way 320th

Federal Way

Greenbridge

This was the first time I told an unknown librarian about my quest, and she was very enthusiastic. She also showed me around the small library and talked about how they had to curate the shelves and how quickly books turned over. I liked how kids came in to play and read and how welcoming it felt. My sister came along and took the picture with me and the librarian.

Issaquah

Kennmore

Kent

A big box of a room with a sense of abundance and space. There are desks and computers to the right and magazines and sitting areas on the left, including the teen corner. The children’s area is squared off by low shelving, which I would have appreciated when I showed up with four young kids. There are several nooks with chairs or tables for quiet work and a couple of meeting rooms for large and small gatherings. Not too bad.

Kent Panther Lake

Kingsgate

Kirkland

Lake Forest Park

Lake Hills

Maple Valley

Mercer Island

Muckleshoot

Newcastle

Newport WayNewport Way is a very cosy and comfortable library. It is fairly small but uses its space efficiently and there are many small details to delight in, from the enclosed children’s area to the windowed reading annex to the sculptures outside and the many small details on the brick walls inside. You can find small animals, letters, fossils, and even a would-be-visitor.

(Normandy Park Lockers?)

North Bend

Redmond

Redmond Ridge Library Express?

Renton

This is our local branch where the kids and I have been going since I moved to Washington. It is built over a river and has glass walls so you can look up or downstream to see the water flow, the birds fly and paddle about, and the salmon swim. It’s as cool as it sounds. It got a major renovation a few years ago and we almost had to move it (wet lands are hard to construct on, and rivers are by definition wet) but the community ponied up the extra money so it stayed. I liked the kids section better before the renovations but I don’t have kids any more so fine. There’s a nice big meeting room, several study rooms, lots of computers and nice librarians. I approve.

A couple of big trees blew over a few months ago and you can see them in the river behind the library. The window facing us has a lot of chairs set up so you can read and look out at the water flowing away and the birds and the fish (the salmon swim up this river in the fall). The children’s area is on the right so the kids get the view.

Renton Highlands

My other local library (we moved here before Renton libraries joined with KCLS) has a new building located what looks like an awesome park for kids. You can see the giant climbing structure in the right background. It also has quiet study rooms, good tables with chargers, a nice meeting room next to the children’s area which is open but has good sight lines.