Stockholm Public Library is a library building in Stockholm, Sweden, designed by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund, and one of the city's most prominent constructions. The name is nowadays used for both the chief library itself as well as the community library system of the City of Stockholm.
Discussed by a committee of which Asplund himself was a associate from 1918, a design system was planned in 1922, and creation began in 1924. Partially enthused by the Barrière Saint-Martin (Rotonde de la Villette) by Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Asplund abandoned earlier ideas for a dome in favor of a pavilion whose tall cylinder gives the exterior some monumentality. In the course of its planning, he reduced elements of the classical order to their most intellectual geometrical forms, for the most part removing architectural decoration. Stockholm Public Library was Sweden's first public library to apply the code of open shelves where visitors could access books without the need to enquire library staff for help, a idea Asplund studied in the United States during the construction of the library. All the furnishings in all the rooms were designed for their specific positions and purposes.
Publically opened on 31 March 1928 in the presence of Prince Eugen, due to financial restraints the library was still missing its west section which was only added in 1932 to complete the around square base around the rotunda of the main reading room. Stockholm Public Library is one of Asplund's most significant works and illustrates his gradual shift from classicism to functionalism.
Also planned by Asplund and completed in 1931 is the parkland to the south with its large pond and the shops sideways Sveavägen.
Stockholm Public Library comprises more than 2 million volumes and 2.4 million audio tapes, CDs and audio books.
The "international library" is the section for foreign languages, contained in two floors of an wing behind the main building, close to Oden plan. Its assets include more than 100 languages with 17,000 volumes in Persian, 15,800 in Arabic, and 14,500 in Spanish. In 2007 the most borrowed languages were Russian (19,300 loans), Thai, Spanish, Persian, Chinese, Arabic, Polish and Japanese. For some of these languages, Stockholm serves public libraries in the rest of Sweden from side to side interlibrary loans.
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