Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

This library is the primary branch of the San Jose Public Library system, and is also the main library for San José State University. When it was built in 2003, it was the first in the country to combine academic and public libraries in this way. It is home to many unique special collections:

• The Civil Rights Collection houses materials about MLK Jr. and the movement as a whole.

• The Center for Beethoven Studies, a library and museum dedicated to the composer.

• The Center for Steinbeck Studies is the largest archive pertaining to the author in the world.

• The Africana, Asian American, Chicano & Native American Studies Center has collections related to these communities.

• And several others: the California room, the special collections & archives section, a music section, and a local history preservation department at SJSU called the Sourisseau Academy.

There are also public artworks by Mel Chin on every floor, a materials library where you can see samples of 500 materials (polymers, metals, glass, ceramics), and spaces for kids and teens.

The building was built in 2003, on the same site as the city's main Carnegie Library from 1903.