There is a new construction for the Alhambra Ca library. Sinanian Development, Inc. of Tarzana, CA, was selected by the City of Alhambra to complete the construction of the new Alhambra Civic Center Library, currently being built at 101 South First Street, adjacent to City Hall.The new library will be comprised of a total floor area of 45,000 sq. ft. and a two-level underground parking garage with approximately 240 spaces
Service areas will feature unique design elements to clearly identify where you are with specially-designed portals for each section. These will include areas for young children, teens, and adults, as well as a Literacy center and space devoted to the International Language collection. Each area will include its own seating, shelving, computers and study rooms, as well as reference and other collections. A spacious multi-purpose room, designed for library programs, public activities and meetings will be available; with its attached kitchen and independent, outside access doors, the room can be used "after hours." Another exciting element described by the architect is an outdoor patio reading area off the second floor service area. Following a trend more typically found in bookstore than in libraries, readers may be able to purchase a cup of coffee at an onsite beverage kiosk

This is a design of the future library:

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (or The Huntington) is an educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington in San Marino, California, USA. In addition to the library, the site houses a rarefied art collection and renowned botanical gardens.

The library contains an extensive collection of rare books and manuscripts, including a Gutenberg Bible, the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer, and thousands of historical documents about Abraham Lincoln including the papers of the president's bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon. The rare books and manuscripts in the library are among the most heavily-used in the United States. The library holds some 6.5 million manuscripts and more than a million rare books. It is the only library in the world with the first two quartos of Hamlet; it holds the manuscript of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, the first seven drafts of Henry David Thoreau's Walden, John James Audubon's Birds of America, and many other great treasures.

Botanical gardens

The Huntington's superb botanical gardens cover 120 acres (485,624 m²) and the theme gardens contain rare plants from around the world. The gardens are divided into over a dozen themes including the Australian Garden, Camellia Collection, Children's Garden, Conservatory, Desert Garden, Herb Garden, Japanese Garden, Lily Pond, North Vista, Palm Garden, Rose Garden, Shakespeare garden, Subtropical and Jungle Garden and a Chinese Garden under construction in the northern end of the property. In addition, a large open field planted with Eucalyptus trees serves as a re-created "Australian Outback". The Huntington has a program to protect and propagate endangered plant species. In 1999 and 2002, a specimen of Amorphophallus titanum, or "corpse flower", bloomed at the facility.

The Huntington Desert Garden, one of the world's largest and oldest collections of cacti and other succulents, contains plants from extreme environments, many of which were acquired by Mr. Huntington and Mr. William Hertrich (the garden curator) in trips taken to several countries in North, Central and South America. One of the Huntington’s most botanically important gardens, the Desert Garden, idealized by Mr. Hertrich, brings together a plant group largely unknown and unappreciated in the beginning of the 1900’s. Containing a broad category of xerophytes (aridity-adapted plants), the Desert Garden grew to preeminence and remains today among the world’s finest, with over five thousand species, including cacti and succulent plants, or plants that store water in leaf, stem, or root.

The Gardens are frequently used as a filming location. Footage shot there has been included in:

• Mame (1974)
• Only Yesterday (Music Video) - Carpenters (1975)
• Midway (1976)
• The "Ordinary World" music video by Duran Duran (1993)
• Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
• Mystery Men (1999)
• Charlie's Angels (2000)
• The Wedding Planner (2001)
• The Hot Chick (2002)
• S1m0ne (2002)
• Anger Management (2003)
• Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
• Starsky & Hutch (2004)
• Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
• Ned's Declassified Field Trip, the final episode of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide (2007)