Burton Barr is located on Central Avenue just south of McDowell road. Please see the Valley Metro website for public transportation routes serving the Burton Barr Library.Size: 280,000 square feet on five levels
Opened: May, 1995. (After moving from its former location on McDowell Road) Total Staff: 126.5 FTE
Total Items in Collection: 705,700
Total # of Public PCs with Internet: 151

The first floor houses a New Book area; the audio-visual, international languages and fiction collections; a 10,000 square foot Children's Section with its own Story Room; a new auditorium; and, the nationally acclaimed Special Needs Center with its adapted computer equipment, resources and Large Print materials. The Library also offers a fully integrated Spanish collection for adults and children. Materials include fiction and nonfiction books, paperbacks, a reference collection, videos and audio cassettes, with ESL (English as a Second language) materials housed in a quiet corner of the library.

General and Business Reference, Government Documents, Magazines & Newspapers, Vehicle & Appliance Repair, Mitchell-on-Demand (car repair manuals), the Career Center, Maps and Interlibrary Loan are located on the second floor.

The Rare Book Room and the Arizona Room with their specialized focus and collections are situated on the fourth floor.

The Great Reading Room occupies the entire fifth floor housing the circulating non-fiction collection.

Building Highlights
Inspired by Monument Valley, the building's shape resembles a curving copper mesa split by a stainless steel canyon. Focusing on light and illusion, the design features shade sails on north windows fashioned by sail makers in Maine, an entrance tunnel with one back-lit wall and another of blue Venetian plaster with splashes of brightly colored Venetian plaster throughout the building.

The Crystal Canyon, a five-story atrium, has nine skylights at the top to track the sun. The glass-enclosed elevators and grand staircase are surrounded by a black bottom pool which mirrors their images and that of the Crystal Canyon.

A 32-foot high "Floating Ceiling" is suspended by cables over the Great Reading Room of 43,000 square feet on the fifth floor. Six-inch-wide skylights run the entire 300 foot length of the east and west walls. Round skylights covered by lenses create an illusion of flames at noon on the summer solstice, June 21st.

District 7bruderDWL architects.

Architectural Design Leads
Will Bruder with Wendell Burnette