Inside Anythink Nature Library, the nation’s first public library with an outdoors focus

There’s a library in the Denver metro area where you can play in the mud, work in a garden and check out everything from telescopes and bird-watching kits to waterproof tents and snowshoes. Inside, there’s a wall of live plants, a darkroom with twinkling stars on the ceiling and a fireplace with a bench that can be heated in the winter. Oh, and there are books, too.

Adams County’s library system, Anythink Libraries, will open the nation’s first public library with an outdoors focus on Saturday, Aug. 8. Sitting on a 15-acre campus adjacent to the 140-acre Aylor Open Lands in Thornton, the 33,000-square-foot Anythink Nature Library welcomes people inside just like any other library.

But the point of visiting is to get outside.

“The vision for the nature library is to help people find their place in nature,” says Anythink Executive Director Mark Fink.

Although it’s located in Adams County, any Colorado resident can get an Anythink library card for full access to the system’s services. And people are going to want to check out the Nature Library.

Fink says the $43.4 million project was funded through certificates of participation, a type of lease-purchase agreement to finance a new facility, and took almost exactly two years of construction. A Native American Advisory Council was integral to the library’s design process.

“Our advisory council members shared their knowledge and wisdom about how we could be good stewards of the land and find ways to connect with the land and the library space,” Fink says.

Several of those ideas are realities of the library today: a sunroom overlooking the gardens where storytimes will be held, an immersive darkroom where people looking for a low-sensory environment can find quiet and native Colorado flora and fauna across the campus.

There is no Dewey Decimal System. Books are instead organized by topic, including fiction, poetry, Indigenous knowledge and outdoor instruction manuals for gardening, hiking, foraging and more. Another section of the library offers outdoor equipment that can be checked out. A cafe will serve up coffee, tres leches cake and other snacks, and the whole building is filled with natural light thanks to its many windows, which, by the way, are made of bird-safe glass.

“It has little dots on it,” Fink explains. “Birds sense those dots and know that there’s a barrier in front of them, so they know to veer away instead of hitting our windows.”

Fink adds that Anythink is going for LEED gold certification for the building, a recognition for environmentally friendly construction efforts. “We have over 300 solar panels on the roof of the building. Those solar panels will cover about half of our utility costs,” he says. “We have 40 geothermal wells that provide the heating and circulation for the building. …All of the stone we used in the building is local to Colorado.”

That includes the fireplace, which is made of redstone from Crested Butte. There is also a boulder climbing area inside the library where kids and adults alike can get some practice in.

“We heard that a lot of folks, especially folks who live in apartment buildings, don’t have outdoor spaces of their own, so we wanted to provide that kind of space and gear for people to use,” Fink says.

Outside, there is indeed a mud pit (and a clean-up area, although the library recommends bringing a change of clothes) as well as a loop trail, a nature play area and various gardens — including one at the center of the library, which Fink says will eventually have a telescope and fountain.

“A lot of those outdoor experiences will inform the gear that we’ll offer that people can borrow,” Fink says. “It could be a bird-watching journal with a field guide they can take out on the property — they can take it home as well. What we’re really trying to do is find ways to connect people with nature, and buying all the gear can be a barrier for some people. We want to provide the access and all the pieces that people need to have that nature experience that they’re looking for.”

The library will work with nonprofit and government partners to provide an extra layer of support for people looking for resources and education, according to Fink. Meanwhile, the library will evolve to meet people’s needs and interests.

“People think that nature in Colorado means going to the mountains, but we want to show that you can have a really amazing outdoor experience in your backyard, in the plains, on the prairie,” Fink says.

RSVP here for the Anythink Nature Library Grand Opening event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8, 6811 E. 136th Ave., Thornton.