Sneak peek: the Chicago Public Library at the Obama Presidential Center

President Obama’s love for reading will show up at the Obama Presidential Center when we open the newest branch of the Chicago Public Library!

In addition to checking out some of President Obama’s book picks, visitors will be able to take advantage of interactive digital media spaces and amenities for children, informational and vocational resources for adults, and a reading room for all to enjoy. This unique partnership will increase access and assure that more South Side residents will be within walking distance of a public library.

A rendering of the public library branch at the future Obama Presidential Center. Children listen to a woman reading a book while other people explore.

In communities across the country and around the world, libraries offer essential services to neighbors and act as hubs for civic engagement. Opening a public library on the Obama Presidential Center campus is also an important continuation of President Obama and Mrs. Obama’s commitment to ensuring open access to knowledge and information.

Another highlight of Chicago Public Library branch on the Obama Presidential Center campus will be the larger-than-life 'Book Bird' sculpture by world-renowned artist and Chicago native Richard Hunt. ‘Book Bird’ will depict a bird taking flight from a book to illuminate how reading and learning allows readers to enter new places and fly free.

A miniature model of Richard Hunt's "Book Bird," made of bronze.
A rendering shows the Obama Presidential Center from a garden, where a person stands in front of a bronze sculpture of a bird emerging from a book.

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President Obama's favorite books

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A white graphic with a multicolored blue-green border reads “Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2023: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride; The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut; Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond; How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair; The Wager by David Grann; The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff; Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell; King: A Life by Jonathan Eigh; The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese; The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen; All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby; The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory by Tim Alberta; Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista; and This Other Eden by Paul Harding.”
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