Canada Water Library

The £14m Canada Water Library opened last November, although its modest entrance is masked by the construction work still taking place outside, so you could be forgiven for missing the fact it's open.

Squatting on top of the entrance to Canada Water tube station, it's easily accessible on the East London Line and worth a visit, even if only for the giant wooden well that forms the central staircase up in to the library.

Although bigger and better stocked than its contemporary in Deptford, it is nonetheless designed along a similar open plan template, incorporating a cafe, studio space and lots of computers. Like Deptford, it faces on to a new public square that is not yet finished.

Canada Water also has the advantage of a balcony level, which is devoted to more serious reading and working. Accessed via discreet staircases and shielded from the main level, it offers a degree of peace and calm that Deptford can't. The kids section is less relaxing than Deptford's but does boast a large wooden boat to sit in, which is always nice.

But the best thing about Canada Water Library is that it makes good use of its height and dockside setting, offering plenty of window seats where you can sit and read as the sun plays on the water.