Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library — Attraction in Washington

The newly renovated MLK Library has many accessibility features. People with visual impairments can use the app, GoodMaps, to navigate inside the MLK Library independently. There are 4 functional elevators. On the 2nd floor is the Accessibility Lab where you can learn about assitive technology for computers and phones; take ASL beginner or intermediate classes (currently virtual); attend ASL game nights and book clubs; sign up for BARD (an app with free audiobooks for people who are blind, have visual impairments, have cognitive or reading impairments or have mobility deficits impairing the ability to hold a book or turn pages); have books not on BARD verbally recorded (they'restill working on getting this program back up and running); use assistive technology like JAWS, screen readers, devices that take a picture of a print books, newspapers or magazines and play it aloud with the ability to change volume and speed; use a small Braille library with books and periodicals; and print up to 20 free pages a day on a Braille printer. Many of the librarians in the Accessibility Lab know ASL, but there are also telephone interpreters for various languages so everyone can be served. The accessibility lab also has a high low table that up to 4 people (2 powerchair/manual chair users could use with 2 people without assistive devices at one time.) The printing lab has 1 low station for a wheelchair user without room for legs to fit underneath. For people who can't physically come to the library, they will mail books, DVDs, and books on tape for free without having to worry about any late fee fines.

I think there is a family and accessible restroom if you go down to the bottom floor, but otherwise, the main restrooms on the 2, 3, 4, and 5th floors are not very accessible. If someone's at the sink, a wheelchair user can't get in or out since the hallway is too narrow. Because the hallway is narrow, it is hard to turn into the accessible stall. The accessible stall is too narrow to position the chair next to the toilet, and the chair becomes quite a tripping hazard during the transfer. It is difficult to reach the sink and soap. It is quite a disappointing and stressful experience to use the general bathrooms.

This is the best library I have ever been to! It has services I wouldn't have even associated with a library. It has a recording studio, dance studio, sewing lab, 3D printer, laser printer, CriCut maker, Adult Learning Services, Accessibility Lab, a slide for kids, a Fix-It-Clinic to repair broken appliances, legal, vocational, and tech classes and services passport services, local history archives, free printing (up to 20 pages a day), free books monthly for kids 0-5 mailed home, free author talks with free books given, free concerts, free movie screenings, and free museum installations. They coordinate busing to a local homeless shelter upon closing but respect peoples agency to choose where to stay for the night. They offer blankets and COVID tests on occasion. They help seniors sign up for free SmarTrip metro cards. Even MD and VA residents or people who work but don't live in DC can get a library card. Located centrally next to the Metro Center metro station, it's well...

While this is a nice space open to the public, its rather disappointing considering its the main (and recently renovated) library for a major, well-educated city. If you want to sit and work, most of your best options involve a hard, plastic seat as well as a random bar blocking the window directly at eye-level. If you're seeking a more comfortable seat, you most likely have to give up some combination of natural light, tables, and access to outlets. Although in my experience, many of these seats are also fairly uncomfortable. The general mood of the library every time I've been can be best described as "dead", with a few grand, wide-open areas that just end up feeling stark, uncomfortable, and under-utilized. Perhaps I'm being too harsh and allowing my experience with the Boston Public Library to taint my views of DC, but I feel as though the DC library's downtown location, proximity to transit, and recent renovation were wasted in not creating an environment closer to Boston's. There, there is an incredibly diverse selection of comfy (non-plastic) seating, with just about every seat having access to electricity, natural lighting, and tables. There is no under-utilized, uncomfortable space to be found, and the library usually feels dynamic yet still cozy. The main redeeming feature of the DC library is its rooftop with garden, where I do love to study and complete work. However, even this area suffers from poor-planning. The rooftop occasionally closes far earlier than the library for private events, there are far too few tables and seating on nice days, and the tables that do exist once again feature uncomfortable seating and no outlet access. There is so much potential in this library, and its just disappointing and frustrating that more wasn't done to make it a more comfortable, dynamic,...

The Importance of a Library

My brothers and sisters, today I stand before you not to speak of war, nor of marches, nor of the trials we face on the road to justice. No, today I speak of something just as mighty as the ballot, as powerful as the protest, and as necessary as the dream itself—a library.

A library, my friends, is not merely a building of bricks and mortar, nor is it a quiet refuge of dust and silence. No, a library is a temple of truth, a sanctuary of knowledge, and a lighthouse for those lost in the darkness of ignorance. It is here that the voices of our ancestors whisper their wisdom, that the minds of the great and small alike may drink deeply from the well of understanding.

I say to you, a people denied access to knowledge is a people shackled still. A book in the hand of a child is a key to freedom, and a library in the heart of a community is a fortress against oppression. When we read, we learn; when we learn, we think; and when we think, we are no longer bound by the chains of fear and misinformation.

The road to justice is paved with knowledge, and no man, no law, no barrier of hatred can stop the march of a people armed with the truth. So I call upon you today—go to the libraries, read the words of those who came before us, and write the future with the wisdom you find.

For I tell you this: a library is not just a house of books—it is a house of hope. And with hope in our hearts and knowledge in our hands, we shall rise, we shall overcome, and we shall see the dawn of a better tomorrow.

Let us march forward together, not just in the streets, but in the pages of history, armed with the most powerful weapon of all—education.

May God bless you, and may the light of knowledge forever...