Frank Lloyd Wright Reading Room
OPENS TO PUBLIC WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
925 Chicago Ave., Oak Park, IL 60604 (Please enter from back door)
Reading Room Public Hours:
- Wednesday – Friday, 10 am to 2 pm
- Saturday, 12 pm to 2 pm
- Exclusive Members Only Hours: Saturday, 10 am to 12 pm
Mission
The Frank Lloyd Wright Reading Room and Archive align with the Trust’s mission to “engage, educate, and inspire” by making these learning resources available to the public for the purpose of education about Wright’s design legacy through individual access and group classes.
The Reading Room is a selective non-circulating collection of approximately 650 books focused on Frank Lloyd Wright, his professional associates, and his contemporaries. The collection includes books on architectural history, the architectural heritage of the Chicago area, and Wright’s architecture and design along with books on the Arts and Crafts movement and early modern design. The collection is maintained for the purpose of public education.
The Reading Room is a managed collection with a capacity of approximately 800 books. To maintain the best possible selection within the limits of capacity, the following guidelines for acquisition and removal are defined.
Acquisition
The Reading Room accepts gifts of books in very good condition that meet one or more of the following:
- Replaces an existing book with one in better condition
- Replaces a paperback with hardcover lacking markings on or in the book
- Fulfills an existing need in the collection
Retirement
Books may be retired if they are determined to be out-of-date in usefulness or in such deteriorated condition that they cannot be used.
Gift Protocol
- Donors offering books fill out a gift form that includes a list of the titles offered.
- Gift offers will be reviewed by the Reading Room committee.
- Books deemed inappropriate for the collection may be accepted and used for other purposes.
GIFT FORM
Please download and fill out gift form. Email completed form to readingroom@flwright.org.
These protocols ensure safety and decorum in use of the Reading Room. An attendant will be in the Reading Room during public hours to assist guests. Children ages 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
Procedures:
- Guests leave backpacks and coats in the foyer and sign in.
- Guests may use the Reading Room computer index of books to locate titles they seek or may browse the shelves to identify books of interest.
- Guests may remove books from shelves but not reshelve them after use.
- Guests may not use the ladder to reach books on high shelves. The Reading Room attendant will assist in removing books that are out of reach.
- Guests who wish to extend their use of a book, may place a Reading Room marker in the book with their name and leave it on the mobile book cart. Books will be held for two weeks and then reshelved.
- Laptops and iPhones are permitted. Photographs of books are for personal use only. Book copyrights legally apply to republication of the work in any format.
- Books may not be removed from the Reading Room.
- Use pencils only please.
- Phone calls must be made or answered in the foyer or terrace outside the Reading Room.