main rotunda of the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne

it's actually more crowded than this, packed full of tables and you can hardly walk in between, I suppose they cleaned it up a bit for this photo
lots of people reading and studying when I visited, which is nice
the main purpose of a library in this day and age I feel is to store old books, and to encourage education
in future I think libraries and museums should combine functions
and I feel strongly that there is something about being in the presence of great shelves of reference books that encourages students, and that it's something that nations should nurture