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A private tour of the Harold Washington Library.

CPL opened in 1873 and has grown from one room in a water tank to 81 branches across the city. Harold Washington Library Center replaced what is now the Cultural Center as the central branch in October 1991. Today this building alone has over a million holdings plus many more items in Special Collections–plus a Maker Lab and private music practice rooms. Chicago’s public libraries, especially the main branch, offer a wealth of visual inspiration and practical resources for designers.

This tour focused on the 4th and 8th floor collections, with an introduction to the Maker Lab and selections from Special Collections. The 4th floor is home to Business, Science, and Technology. This includes books on: starting and running a business, marketing, strategy, manufacturing, digital design and tech how-tos, history of book design and typography. The 8th floor is Arts and Music! There’s a 10,000+ strong LP collection, oversize art books, resources for any type of fine art or craft you want to try out, a scale model of The Bean, and architectural models proposed for the building design contest.

An experience an overview of spaces and collections in Harold Washington Library Center, to have your curiosity piqued, and to come away knowing how to follow up on those curiosities.