in britannia

I'm taking a little break from my research to rave about this gorgeous space. I'm currently at the central branch of the Boston Public Library, the first large municipally funded free library in the world. I am sitting insidde a gorgeous barrel vaulted room called Bates Hall, which retains its majesty as a stately temple to intellectual curiosity and scholarly endeavor. What a place to study... Even at the Bodleian Library in Oxford there is no such wide-open space to enjoy books in this manner.