How can architecture create context and facilitate understanding of the information presented in public libraries through both physical and digital media to encourage community engagement? This thesis analyzes the architectural relationship between the public, information, and the city. Historically, library buildings have acted as the interface through which the public accessed information. As the way we access information has changed, libraries have changed as well. The proliferation of easy and remote access to information can lead to the assumption that libraries, as portals to information, are obsolete. However, information that is less exclusive is also less edited, driving the amount of information up and driving the quality of any given piece of information down. Among the strategies to interpret this large amount of information, context is one of the most valuable. To provide context, this thesis focuses on public library architecture as a lens for understanding and viewing how different forms of connection impact the city.The library, as the architectural medium between people and information, is being challenged. Information continues to become easier to access, decentralized from its architectural counterpart. The public library no longer seems necessary to provide information to public. Citizens can view a virtually limitless source of information on a mobile device in most urban spaces. Yet, the explosion of information through the internet creates its own problems, lacking the editing and credibility inherent in most physical media. In the flood of information, the need for context becomes paramount for understanding. Providing this context can bridge the gap between information and engagement, a problem the internet, for all its collective creativity, has not been able to address. The public library already shows incredible promise for establishing a thriving public realm, marrying the access to information with the public space necessary for democratic activity. By expanding the cultural context for information through architecture, the public library can contribute a community’s public realm. The rise of digital information can easily lead to the assumption that physical media is no longer important. Alternately, purists may claim that physical artifacts hold value over their digital counterparts. In reality, neither physical nor digital information exist independently; both influence and shape the other. Augmented space combines digital and physical information to provide a dense layer of cultural information reliant on both forms of media. Augmented spaces can be seen where digital information, such as tagging, already exists and informs movement through physical, urban areas. Recent examples include the popular mobile game, Pokemon Go, where gamers move through physical space, dictated by digital prerogatives. Designers can be mindful of both digital and physical media by providing cultural context for information through architecture. Library architecture can anticipate the future of information, while cultivating the public realm, by creating cultural context for information.