Despite the complaints in this article, I actually find the 10th floor of the Seattle Central Library a better place to read than that in any other library. However, I still prefer coffeeshops -- just because I like background noise.

Quoted: The 10th-floor reading room is quieter, more intimate, and yet more stimulating. Punched into the city skyline like a rhomboid treehouse, it connects startlingly with Seattle's urban energy. That may be a positive environment for the digestion of knowledge here in the 21st century. But once the exhilaration subsides, the truth emerges: The room is badly designed and cheesily detailed. The drab plastic study cubicles fail to resonate with the jazzy character of the building envelope.