Burton Barr Central Library, Public library in downtown Phoenix, United States.

Burton Barr Central Library is the flagship of the Phoenix Public Library, a five-story building of 280,000 square feet opened in 1995. Its exterior combines a curved wall of dark rectangular panels, a pale grey concrete slab, a louvered metal screen and a glass facade fronted by wavy cream sunshades on slender steel struts. Inside, a central open core holds three high-speed elevators and a five-level staircase called the "crystal canyon"; the collection numbers 1 million volumes.

Designed by architect Will Bruder, the library opened in 1995 as the main branch of the Phoenix Public Library system. The building has served as a central information hub for the city and a key resource for public access to materials and programs.

The library serves as a community hub where people of all ages and backgrounds gather throughout the year for readings, workshops, and learning activities. It functions as a meeting place where local residents connect with one another and access information together.

The building provides a small parking lot on-site and offers free Wi-Fi, computer stations, and study rooms for visitors. The downtown location is easy to reach, and the facility is designed to accommodate a range of visitor needs and preferences.

At solar noon around the summer solstice, skylights in the roof cast circles of sunlight down the library's north-south midline, some reaching the ground-floor lobby while sunlight washes the upper east and west walls of the fifth level. A celebration is held there each year.