Denver Public Library

In the 1950s the city commissioned the architectural firm Fisher & Fisher and designer Burnham Hoyt to build a new Central Library to be located on Broadway and West 14th Avenue.[6] The property had previously been an auto dealership for the Ford Model T, Model A, and Model B before being condemned by the City in 1953.[7] The Fisher/Hoyt Central Library in the city's Golden Triangle opened in 1956 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[8] As part of the dedication of the new library when it opened, Yale Library loaned a collection of books that included the 1455 Gutenberg Bible and 1640 Bay Psalm Book that are both rare and valuable artifacts.[9] Throughout the 1950s and 1970s, Denver experienced an explosion of growth and quickly required more branches to be open to serve the new neighborhoods that branched out to the southeast and southwest. Among these branches were four Ross branches, funded with a $100,000 donation from Frederick Ross who was a Denver Real Estate Investor and the Library Commissioner.[9] In the 1990s Denver voters approved a $91.6 million bond issue to add onto the Fisher/Hoyt building; the new 540,000-square-foot (50,000 m²) structure, designed by the 2012 Driehaus Prize winner Michael Graves and the Denver firm of Klipp Colussy Jenks DuBois, opened in 1995.[6] The seven-story exterior is finished with limestone and pre-cast concrete with copper accents throughout. Murals are painted inside by the artist Edward Ruscha and fossils are embedded in its floor within the Schlessman Hall. There is also an art gallery within the Level Five Gates Western History Ready Room.[9]

All locations offer patrons access to public computers with Internet service, Microsoft Office 2013, copying, printing, and scanning. Wireless Internet (WiFi) is also available to all visitors.[11]

The Denver Public Library offers library card holders access to equipment and experiences to check out. Current items include bicycle repair kits, State Park Pass, Chromebooks, draft check meter, GoPro camera, museum and cultural passes, power check meter, Speck indoor air quality meter, video projector, and WiFi hotspot.[12]

The Denver Public Library system provides access to makerspaces, called ideaLABs, at various locations.[13]

Denver Public Library offers library card holders free passes to participating local museums and cultural institutions. Institutions include the Butterfly Pavilion, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Behind the Scenes Tours, Denver Firefighters Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver Trolley, Denver Zoo, History Colorado Center, Molly Brown House Museum, and Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Card holders can also enter drawings to win vouchers to plays and concerts held at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company and Colorado Symphony.[14]