In case you didn’t see all the photos taken at the library, here is a slideshow for your convenience. 

 

Believe it or not we accidently came across the Sendai Mediatheque (aka a Public Library), and a modern slick one at that. We had been up to see the remains of the Sendai Castle, which has a lovely view over the city. We were on the Loople (yes that is the corect term), which was at crush capcity, to get back to the city. I had managed to get a seat and was nodding off (yes being a tourist is hard work), when Kym said lets get off. He had spotted the name of the Library from the map, and it reminded him what the French call their public libraries.

What a fantastic buidling. It is seven floors of light and activity – and on a Sunday too! The ground floor was featuring a number of young musicians, and people selling knitted and wooven items, a shop and a cafe. Yes we did have a drink and cake at the end of looking around.

While the building is square there are several large light wells from the top of the building that carries light down. The front of each floor has ceiling to floor glass ( not all clear) for the space to be well lit.

The second floor is for computer access and general quiet reading space in front of the windows, AV area (yes they still had video tapes, but not many), and a kids area. The kids area was defined by silver curtains. The thir floor was fiction and non fiction materials, magazines, and lots of study space on seats against the walls or tables. There was a third mezzanine floor, which had a queue of 20-30 people waiting for information assistance, and reference material. The floors above were dedicated art space, movie space, and a meeting space and performance space. Wow.. what a fantastic building. There wasn’t suppose to be any taking of photos, but I ignored the sign – as I could see a few other people were too. My photos don’t do the space justice. If you are ever in Sendai, I highly recommend you check it out!