[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by pilsenarch

The entry sequence? It's just a very bad joke.

I'm not sure I'd agree with that. You come through an elegant but compressed portal and then into the high-ceilinged central court, which was organized as an impressive rotunda. Then up the escalators past a couple of big pieces of public art and into the reference and circulation area. From Congress, you pass through a gallery to reach the rotunda. The entry from Van Buren or Plymouth was less straightforward.

Now that lengthy sequence was very frustrating for us frequent users who just wanted to get to the books rather than be impressed by civic grandeur twice a week—but "a very bad joke?" My understanding was that the library insisted on such separation from the sidewalks, for security purposes. That was also what reportedly scotched the direct entry from the L station.

Recently, they've eliminated the third-floor checkpoint, so you can now get straightaway to an elevator right on the ground floor. Unfortunately, that means going to what seems like the service corridor in the back of the building.