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If your idea of a public library is dusty bookshelves, empty aisles, and imperious shushes, you obviously haven’t been to Adams County, north and east of Denver. Once home to the lowest-funded library system in the state, Adams established an independent taxing authority in 2004, rebranded its libraries to Anythink, and has since debuted seven innovative branches that eschew traditional library elements (including late fees) and incorporate features intended to make spaces feel more like bookstores (such as cozy fireplaces).
On August 8, Anythink will open its most ambitious location yet: the 33,000-square-foot Nature Library in Thornton, situated on the 140-acre Aylor Open Space. “It’s going to be an absolutely beautiful space, but it’s not precious. It’s really meant to provide amazing opportunities for people to feel safe, take a risk, or learn something new,” Anythink’s executive director Mark Fink says.
Here, five ways to do just that at the new Nature Library.
1. Borrow camping gear and outdoor equipment.
You can borrow outdoor gear from all Anythink libraries, but this branch’s inventory is the system’s biggest with 550 items, including GoPros, night-vision goggles, sleeping bags, gardening equipment, GPS devices, wildlife trail cameras, and hammocks. It’s “part library, part REI,” Fink says. “One of the things we learned in Adams County is there are a lot of barriers for people to buy these things that are really expensive. So we want people to have the opportunity to try it and see if they enjoy it.”
2. Check out the nature-inspired design.
Branch manager Maria Mayo-Peaseley used the Environmental Kinship Guide, a method for teaching people about nature, to steer the design of the library. The building resembles blades of grass blowing in the wind, boulders are placed throughout the interior, and the open-air Kinship Garden bursts with native plants, a fountain, and a telescope for exploring the farthest reaches of the natural world.
3. Let kids get muddy.
On a gently sloping hillside outside the library, a series of boulders (like the ones inside) provide opportunities for gentle risk-taking and lead downhill to a hand-powered water pump. Here, children (and the child-like) can turn the area into a place for muddy play. Afterward, visit the mud room in the library, where your dirty discoverers can clean up before browsing the bookshelves.
4. Hike the on-site nature trail.
So you just finished Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed, and now you’re ready to set out on your own expedition? Go touch grass on the library’s one-mile hiking loop, which weaves through 15 acres and is sprinkled with seating areas and storytelling circles. The staff plans to use this area to host outdoor events like yoga and stargazing nights.
5. OK, fine, read.
On one of the Centennial State’s signature radiant days, settle into a chair in the library’s south-facing sunroom. Here, you can watch people tend to their plots in the on-site community garden through glass walls that soar 24 feet high—all without leaving the AC. “It’s a really bright and vibrant space,” Fink says. (The sunroom hosts children’s storytime and other programming for baby bibliophiles.) If it’s overcast, snuggle up by the two-sided vapor fireplace on the other side of the library.