The Kansas City Public Library is a public system headquartered in the Central Library in Kansas City, Missouri. The system operates its Central Library and neighborhood branches located in Kansas City, Independence, and Sugar Creek. Founded on December 5, 1873, it is the oldest and third largest public library system in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Its special collections, housed in the Central Library's Missouri Valley Room, has a collection of Kansas City local history, including original and published materials, news articles, post cards, photographs, maps, and city directories dating from the community's earliest history. The Library's Ramos Collection includes books, pamphlets, journal articles, and other materials relating to African-American history and culture. Overview Branches Central - 14 West 10th Street L.H. Bluford - 3050 Prospect Avenue North-East - 6000 Wilson Road Plaza - 4801 Main Street I.H. Ruiz - 2017 West Pennway Street Southeast - 6242 Swope Parkway Sugar Creek - 102 South Sterling Avenue - (Sugar Creek) Trails West - 11401 East 23rd Street - (Independence) Waldo - 201 East 75th Street Westport - 118 Westport Road Built in 2004, The Community Bookshelf (also known as the Library District Parking Garage) is a striking feature of Kansas City's downtown. It runs along the south wall of the Central Library's parking garage on 10th Street between Wyandotte Street and Baltimore Avenue. The concept of turning the parking garage into a bookshelf was part of an effort on behalf of the community to bring character to the needed structure. "The book spines, which measure approximately 25 feet by 9 feet, are made of signboard mylar that is laid over concrete panels and an aluminum substructure. The shelf showcases 22 titles reflecting a wide variety of reading interests as suggested by Kansas City readers and then selected by The Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees." The following books are depicted in the work: Kansas City Stories Volumes 1 and 2 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Silent Spring by Rachel Carson O Pioneers! by Willa Cather Cien Años de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) by Gabriel García Márquez Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Republic by Plato The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Tao Te Ching by Lau Tsu The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes Black Elk Speaks by Black Elk, as told to John G. Neihardt