I had the opportunity to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, located in central Washington D.C., on 28 March 2022. There is some street parking around the building if one is lucky enough to find a spot, but if not, there are numerous parking garages close by. It is close to many attractions and just underwent a three-year, $210 million renovation, it re-opened in September 2020. Before the renovation, around 600,000 people visited it annual, and that number is expected to reach a million or more each now (Cherner, 2022). During the day the library looks like a normal building, but at night when walking by outside one can see from one side to the other side of the library; it is impressive!

Its website is: https://www.dclibrary.org/mlk  It is not fancy with many pictures or colors. The main page shows upcoming events, hours of operations for its different areas and at the top is a navigation bar to all its services, events, classes, teens, kids, and digital. It also has links at the bottom to its mission and staff, just to name a few. Its event calendar shows what it and other libraries in the surrounding area are doing. Rubin and Rubin wrote “…that all individuals from all social levels were entitled to an education and that libraries were essential instruments to provide that education” (2020, p. 709). This is exactly what this library has done. The Adult Learning site and area on the 2^nd floor has a plethora of events and learning opportunities. If I lived close by I would definitely attend many of their classes to better myself.    

The library has 5 floors and a basement. Upon entering the library, I walk into a grand, bright forum; Infront of me was a big circulation desk and behind it were long built in bookshelves that displayed many books. To my left, around 60 feet away was the Computer Area and to my right, about 60 feet away were a lot of book displays, seating, the hold area, and a New Book area. This area has a small cafe and it smelled very good. The 2^nd floor has the Children’s, Teen and Adult Learning areas; the 3^rd floor has the Archive areas; the 4^th floor has the exhibits, conference center and auditorium; and the 5^th floor has the auditorium and roof terrace. Each area in floors 1, 2, and 3 have tables and chairs next to the windows for patrons to sit and red, people watch and recharge the electrical equipment. In the middle of floors 2, 3, and 4 were individual conference rooms, group conference rooms, a training room that was being used to teach 18 people about Excel, tax preparation rooms, and staff offices. The 4^th floor has the archives! The library recommends completing an online visiting form before one comes to the archives so one can set-up an appointment and tell them what one would like to look at so they can have it ready or ensure they retrieve it beforehand, since some items are kept offsite. However, they do accept walk-ins. There is a list of rules to follow while visiting the archives and viewing them. They have maps, yearbooks, newspapers, postcards, children’s books, pictures, and non-circulating books about Washington D.C. and African American history.

The fifth floor had a lot of framed cardboard art and signage on the walls. The doors to the rooftop terrace were locked due to the cold and windy weather. There is also a 289-seat auditorium that had a few open windows so one can see into the auditorium. They hold movies there the public can view throughout the month.   

There were huge bathrooms on each floor. The library has two staircases and two elevators. Starting on the first floor there are little footsteps for the kids to follow up the stairs to the second floors Children’s area. The elevator has self-cleaning buttons!

The Event Hall, Great Hall and Auditorium can be rented out for some hefty prices for seated dinners, live performances, and film screenings. They also have a program called “Library by Mail” and it is for those individuals that are temporarily or permanently disabled who cannot get to the library. They are able to request and checkout books and DVDs through the libraries website and have them mailed from and to the library for free through the Free Matter for the Blind designation.

These are just some of the many highlights from this library. I also took a bunch of pictures and since we can show up to three, if you want to see more, here is a link to the professional online pictures: https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x89b7b791a066e3e9%3A0xbc37e8af0acf16da!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOyoWSz-Uo60YCoOAew_jIYXE7af9iPLDQUAuTj%3Dw213-h160-k-no!5show%20many%20seats%20are%20in%20the%20auditorium%20in%20the%20martin%20luther%20king%20jr%20memorial%20library%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipOyoWSz-Uo60YCoOAew_jIYXE7af9iPLDQUAuTj&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjE3reWqOz2AhXHq3IEHQkKBVoQoip6BAg9EAM

References:

Cherner, J. (2022, January 10). 5 reasons to visit the newly renovated Martin Luther King Jr. memorial library in Washington D.C. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/mlk-library-dc-updates 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library – Central Library. (n.d.). https://www.dclibrary.org/mlk

Rubin, R. E. and Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.

The front of the library, it spreads along the entire block!