Lexington Public Library - Central Library

Kim Wickens spent 10 years researching Lexington the horse, his life and times. An excellent and detailed presentation at the Farish Theatre in the main library as part of the Kentucky Legends Program Series. The series continues through November. Do utilize your local library. 23

As a former employee of the Library of Congress, I have to admit that I'm a lover of books, information, and libraries. And, the Lexington Central Library did not disappoint! I have to confess though that, on this particular day, I was visiting in order to visit the rotunda which features the world's largest ceiling clock, a 5-story Foucault pendulum, and a frieze depicting the history of the horse on the Bluegrass. Beautiful! It was also clear that this is a "living library" -- with many patrons (including school students), signs for community events, and Ask a Librarian research assistance. There is a parking garage next door (the library validates for up to two hours) and some street parking.

It's a lovely building in a central location, with an open atrium at the center and art exhibitions on display. The library spans a couple of floors and is otherwise a utilitarian space. In looking for wifi or a restroom, I find that it often is not open when I am downtown as the hours are rather limited, but for someone looking to visit, once you ensure that it's actually open there is no great reason not to visit.

Mini me and I stopped at the library while on our adventure Saturday. She went to the second floor and played for a little while. Wondwred around looking at all the different areas. We ended up in the children's book section where she found this place to literally kick back and relax. I'm not so sure how sanitary that is but she enjoyed it.Update I had to stop in today and print a shipping label, now you don't even have to have your library card to log into the computers all you have to do is enter your name as it appears on your library card. Easy enough, however I forgot to bring change for the printer and all I had was plastic. The girl at the desk was kind enough to release the printer for me, as well as letting me use the scotch tape to adhere the shipping label to my envelope. It was truly appreciated as I was on a tight time frame to send this package out by tomorrow. Thanks for all your help!

Excellent story time for 3-5yr olds. Miss Whitney was great and kept everyone included and engaged. I'm sure all other story times are wonderful as well because the staff is incredible. We love the scavenger hunts in all the libraries but there's something about getting a coin and putting it into the machine and having a prize roll out that makes it even better! We could probably stay all day but parking is only validated for an hour or two.

Very nice library located on main street at phoenix park. I am rarely in this location but I can here for a seminar that was held in evening. I parked on the street and the event was downstairs. There was plenty of seating. Check the website for events here an at the other branches

Lexington is lucky enough to have several library locations, but the Central Branch is maybe my favorite. Four floors jam packed with hundreds of thousands of books, I like to go when I have at least a few hours to devote to looking for new reads. The inside of the library itself is beautiful, and there are so many windows that let in the natural sunlight. The librarians are always very friendly and eager to help if you need help finding something. LPL has great online resources as well, allowing you to look up a certain book and at what location it's available. You can also check out books for your kindle, which I think is pretty cool. My favorite thing about Central Branch is the Library Book Cellar in the basement. They sell library books for $1-$5, magazines, DVDs, and CDs. Parking here is more of an ordeal in comparison to the other branches (parking in the adjacent parking structure is free if you get your ticket punched in the library). I always park there out of convenience, but never feel totally safe taking the elevator or using the stairs in the parking structure if I'm by myself.

I love going into this library. There's a multistory entrance that makes it feel quite spectacular. There are many, many books and other media to check out here. The library itself is awesome, the parking is really the only downside.

First time at the library. I went for a mediation in one of the conference rooms. They opened a few minutes late, it was 98° I swear and all the bathrooms which were not very clean were all closed or out of order at one point or another. Maybe because it's downtown but there were a lot of less than desirable possibly homeless people lingering about. The pendulum hanging from the ceiling is really really cool and worth checking out and for that reason I give this place 2 stars.

A 4 story library?! Awesomeeeee. Although I didn't check out any books, it seems like the library has a great selection of books. They have an awesome computer lab (probably around 30+ computers) that you can use. It looks out into downtown Lexington's skyline. There is also a neat pendulum that you can view from any floor of the library. Their wifi is super fast and no need to log in or anything!