Austin Central Library

At this library, which opened in 2017, the books—500,000 in total—are just the beginning of the story. There’s also an art gallery, an event space, a rooftop butterfly garden, a series of group-study rooms, a café (featuring several cookbook-inspired meals) and a “technology petting zoo,” which enables visitors to toy with next-generation gadgets, like a 3-D printer. The building itself—which centers around a six-story, sun-drenched atrium—is cutting-edge too. In July, it earned a Platinum LEED certification for its sustainable design, which includes a bicycle-repair and parking garage and a cistern on the roof that pipes rainwater to the bathrooms. —Julia Zorthian