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I had some time to kill last weekend after the SCBWI Western Washington conference was over. Seattle was gorgeous, the mountain was out (is that what you say? It was remarkable.) and I had already seen a fish or two flung at Pike Place Market.

So I went to the library.

This is the 10th floor, looking out and down. According to the elevator, it was the highest lookout point, so it was my first stop. But oh, the elevator:

You pick your floor by Dewey classification. YOU PICK YOUR FLOOR BY DEWEY CLASSIFICATION. Blew my mind. I tweeted about it, and am still thinking about it.

And how beautiful is this? This is looking down on the teen librarians and the coffee shop, which I stopped at, obviously.

And this! Kudos to the librarian who watched me geek out over this art installation and then gave me a high five. These screens showcase four different visualizations by George Legrady, an artist and professor of interactive media at UCSB. The one in particular below is called “Keyword Map Attack” and it shows keywords of checked-out titles that are mapped back to their Dewey classification. It constantly changes and updates, because it is directly linked to the library’s catalog. So cool.

(And to whoever was searching for spinjitzu, you made me curious, so I looked it up. It’s a martial art in a LEGO universe! Art. At the library. That taught me something. MINDBLOWN.)

How about these floors? Another librarian I spoke to said they sold the leftover strips for a dollar an inch, and that she had a bunch hanging on the walls of her living room. I was in complete envy and shock and awe and wow.

And then I went to the children’s section.

The security man looked at me funny when I took this picture, and I think I mumbled something about the letters, and the circles making up the letters, and I love your library and happy Monday. Really.

A Paul Thurlby poster! Remember him? (Spoiler alert: his new book is brilliant and you’ll love it.)

But now. You have to see this. Of all the books they had, this one caught my eye first.

Shapes Book, by Sofia (to share with people at the library)

Sofia is my kind of girl.

I took her book and tried to be gentle with it and flipped through the pages. She wrote about shape! And lines! And ones that wiggle. (She might like this one?)

After I put Sofia’s masterpiece back on the shelf, I noticed what was displayed next to it:

I loved that. Maybe Sofia’s book was there because she is making math amazing, like the sign says. But also? That infographic is really lovely graphic design: clear, dynamic, and driven by color and shape. Sofia’s investigation of shapes is something I’m sure that graphic designer has given consideration to. Something was really magical about this duo, and I was just tickled.

If you get a chance to peek into the Seattle Public Library, please do! I mean, it’ll probably be raining anyway, right?

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend!  It seems that Mother Nature decided this weekend really did herald in the autumn, as it’s drizzly and chilly in NYC today.  It turns out it’s the best weather to hunker down and catch up on blog reading.  Here are some interesting links we’ve been reading lately:

• The Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011 shortlist just came out and CONGRATULATIONS to author Veronica Roth (DIVERGENT) for her nomination in the “Published Author Blog” category.  Thanks to Lee Wind at I’m Here, I’m Queer, What the Hell Do I Read? for the link (and congrats to his nomination as well)!
• There’s still time to have the teens in your library or classroom vote for YALSA’S Teens’ Top 10 – they have until September 16th.
• Family of robots? Bookshelves of Doom does it again: makes me laugh hysterically first thing in the morning before I’ve even had coffee.
• The time has come: awards buzz is in full effect.  Heavy Medal has started their coverage of all things Newbery.  There doesn’t appear to be a link yet, but keep an eye out for Horn Book‘s own blog, Calling Caldecott.
• Liz Burns over at A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy had quite the ordeal, courtesy of Hurricane Irene.  Read her story and check out her links of other bloggers with Irene stories.
• Snape voted the favorite Harry Potter character?  Really???  It’s a total upset.  Me, I’m a Hermione fan through and through.  And you?
• Sam over at Parenthetical has a fascinating blog post, “To RSS or not to RSS?”  Really?  Only 6% of North American, Internet-using consumers use an RSS feed once a week or more?  That floors me, as I couldn’t live without Google Reader to help me keep it all organized (and I couldn’t live without my Bloglines before that, nor could Liz).  What do you think?  When everyone and their brother has a blog out there, how do you keep it all organized?
• Once again, Seattle Public Library closes for a week due to budget cuts.  I think the quote at the end really gets to the crux of the problem: “You kind of take it for granted – and then suddenly you miss it when it’s gone.”
• Doing last-minute book buying for school?  Here’s a list of some back-to-school titles from the New York Times.

Have a great (short!) week, everyone, and enjoy the cooler weather!