How an Abandoned Walmart Became an Award-Winning Public Library

From 12-packs of paper towels to The Count of Monte Cristo: A deserted Walmart in McAllen, Texas is stocking a new kind of item on its shelves.

Minneapolis-based architects Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd. breathed fresh life into the warehouse, about as big as two and a half football fields, late last year, when they repurposed it as the country’s largest single-story public library. (Alas, it’s not America’s biggest public library, despite what you might have read. That honor goes to the Library of Congress.) When a Walmart retailer moved to a larger facility down the road, the city purchased the old building and created the McAllen Public Library.

The plan was to establish a community gathering place, and it worked. Interim director Kate Horan says that the numbers of new registrations and book loans at the library are “through the roof.” “We used to be really busy on Sunday afternoons,” she added. “Now, every day is a Sunday afternoon.”

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/07/07/abandoned_walmart_in_mcallen_texas_becomes_an_award_winning_public_library_how_big_box_stores_are_becoming_public_spaces_.html