A colleague shared a link to an interesting story on Banoosh with this intriguing headline: “Abandoned Walmart Now America’s Biggest Library”
The story is about a closed Wal-mart in McAllen, Texas being remodeled into a public library. Here’s the key paragraph:
Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle transformed an abandoned Walmart in McAllen, Texas, into a 124,500-square-foot public library, the largest single-floor public library in the United States.
Seeing the two key qualifiers in that sentence–“single-floor” and “public”–I was ready to blame the headline writer. But, oops, backing up a sentence, we get:
But at least one of those buildings has been transformed into something arguably much more useful: the nation’s largest library.
No qualifiers. The nation’s largest library. Which caused my BS-meter to go straight into the red zone.
I can pretty much guarantee that there are dozens of academic libraries with more than 124,500 square feet of space, and that the Library of Congress has a whole bunch more space than that.
As for public libraries? Well, as fate other research would have it, I had a handy copy of the IMLS FY2010 Public Library Outlet dataset on hand (the Outlet dataset includes all branches and bookmobiles; I use the other report, that’s just libraries and systems, for most of my research). That dataset includes square footage.
McAllen would appear to be the 72nd largest public library building in the U.S., assuming no other huge libraries have been built since 2010. There’s a little library about 462 miles from McAllen, but still in Texas, that’s a little more than five times as large (Dallas Public at 646,753 square feet) and one 225 miles away that’s 1.9 times as large (San Antonio PL at 238,000 square feet).
Not putting down the McAllen project: That’s a great use of reclaimed space and a good-size public library. But the largest library or biggest library? Not even close, not even in Texas.
For obsessives only
Here’s the list, from largest down (click on the post title to get the sidebar out of the way, although it’s still gonna be wide…)
| STABR | LIBNAME | CITY | SQ_FEET |
| MA | BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY | BOSTON | 970,000 |
| IL | CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY | CHICAGO | 756,000 |
| NY | STEPHEN A. SCHWARZMAN BUILDING | NEW YORK | 660,000 |
| TX | DALLAS PUBLIC LIBRARY | DALLAS | 646,733 |
| OH | CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY, PL OF | CINCINNATI | 544,202 |
| CA | CENTRAL LIBRARY | LOS ANGELES | 538,802 |
| CO | DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY | DENVER | 538,350 |
| CA | DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. LIBRARY | SAN JOSE | 475,000 |
| WI | MILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY | MILWAUKEE | 457,919 |
| MI | DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY | DETROIT | 420,000 |
| NY | BUFFALO & ERIE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM | BUFFALO | 403,000 |
| DC | MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. MEMORIAL LIBRARY | WASHINGTON | 400,000 |
| CA | MAIN LIBRARY | SAN FRANCISCO | 376,000 |
| IN | ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY | FORT WAYNE | 367,000 |
| WA | CENTRAL LIBRARY | SEATTLE | 362,987 |
| MN | CENTRAL LIBRARY | MINNEAPOLIS | 353,000 |
| MD | ENOCH PRATT CENTRAL | BALTIMORE | 349,713 |
| TN | MEMPHIS PUBLIC LIBRARY AND INFORMATION CENTER | MEMPHIS | 330,000 |
| FL | ALVIN SHERMAN LIBRARY, RESEARCH & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CTR | FORT LAUDERDALE | 325,000 |
| OH | CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY | CLEVELAND | 324,450 |
| NJ | BAYONNE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY | BAYONNE | 307,560 |
| OH | TOLEDO-LUCAS COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY | TOLEDO | 302,693 |
| FL | MAIN LIBRARY | JACKSONVILLE | 300,000 |
| NY | BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY | BROOKLYN | 300,000 |
| TN | NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY | NASHVILLE | 300,000 |
| FL | ORLANDO PUBLIC LIBRARY | ORLANDO | 295,000 |
| PA | FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA | PHILADELPHIA | 286,556 |
| AZ | BURTON BARR CENTRAL LIBRARY | PHOENIX | 280,000 |
| OH | COLUMBUS METROPOLITAN LIBRARY | COLUMBUS | 279,200 |
| TX | HOUSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY | HOUSTON | 268,663 |
| GA | AFPL – CENTRAL LIBRARY | ATLANTA | 265,155 |
| FL | BROWARD COUNTY MAIN LIBRARY | FORT LAUDERDALE | 256,000 |
| NY | SCIENCE, INDUSTRY AND BUSINESS LIBRARY | NEW YORK | 250,000 |
| SC | RICHLAND COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY | COLUMBIA | 242,000 |
| UT | SALT LAKE CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY HEADQUARTERS | SALT LAKE CITY | 240,000 |
| TX | SAN ANTONIO PUBLIC LIBRARY | SAN ANTONIO | 238,000 |
| AL | BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC – CENTRAL DOWNTOWN LIBRARY | BIRMINGHAM | 229,800 |
| NY | QUEENS BOROUGH PUBLIC LIBRARY | JAMAICA | 217,750 |
| FL | MAIN LIBRARY, MIAMI-DADE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM | MIAMI | 200,000 |
| NY | ROCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY | ROCHESTER | 200,000 |
| MO | CENTRAL LIBRARY | ST. LOUIS | 190,870 |
| KS | TOPEKA AND SHAWNEE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY | TOPEKA | 178,600 |
| MO | CENTRAL LIBRARY | KANSAS CITY | 175,000 |
| TX | FORT WORTH LIBRARY | FORT WORTH | 175,000 |
| KY | LOUISVILLE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY | LOUISVILLE | 167,031 |
| IL | SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP DISTRICT LIBRARY | SCHAUMBURG | 166,501 |
| CA | SACRAMENTO CENTRAL LIBRARY | SACRAMENTO | 160,000 |
| NY | MID-MANHATTAN LIBRARY | NEW YORK | 159,880 |
| NC | CHARLOTTE MECKLENBURG LIBRARY | CHARLOTTE | 156,000 |
| MI | GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC LIBRARY | GRAND RAPIDS | 153,000 |
| MA | WORCESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY | WORCESTER | 150,000 |
| PA | CARNEGIE LIBRARY OF PITTSBURGH | PITTSBURGH | 148,845 |
| IN | EVANSVILLE-VANDERBURGH PUBLIC LIBRARY | EVANSVILLE | 147,500 |
| LA | NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC LIBRARY | NEW ORLEANS | 146,902 |
| FL | JOHN F. GERMANY PUBLIC LIBRARY | TAMPA | 145,061 |
| CA | SAN DIEGO CENTRAL LIBRARY | SAN DIEGO | 144,560 |
| AK | Z. J. LOUSSAC LIBRARY | ANCHORAGE | 140,000 |
| IL | GAIL BORDEN PUBLIC LIBRARY DISTRICT | ELGIN | 139,980 |
| NY | NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, | NEW YORK | 138,384 |
| LA | JEFFERSON PARISH LIBRARY | METAIRIE | 135,777 |
| CA | MAIN LIBRARY | LONG BEACH | 135,000 |
| CA | PASADENA CENTRAL LIBRARY | PASADENA | 135,000 |
| CT | HARTFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY | HARTFORD | 135,000 |
| IN | MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY | BLOOMINGTON | 135,000 |
| OK | CENTRAL LIBRARY | TULSA | 135,000 |
| IL | SKOKIE PUBLIC LIBRARY | SKOKIE | 133,190 |
| AR | CENTRAL ARKANSAS LIBRARY | LITTLE ROCK | 132,000 |
| IL | ARLINGTON HEIGHTS MEMORIAL LIBRARY | ARLINGTON HEIGHTS | 132,000 |
| CA | BEALE MEMORIAL LIBRARY | BAKERSFIELD | 128,165 |
| OR | CENTRAL LIBRARY | PORTLAND | 125,000 |
