The Seattle Public Library system is fabulous. The architecture of the downtown building is amazing, and the book selection is massive. They have a great system for reserving books via the internet that allows you to pick them up yourself, and you can park for free in the garage for 20 minutes (long enough to drop off your returns and pick up new holds).
You may have to wait a couple of months to get the hottest best sellers, but you can also use the online reservation system to reserve audio CD's and movies on VHS and DVD. You can even request titles not in stock and get notified when they add them to their collection.
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