Let me tell you about the Library.
The Library is a large building near the heart of the City. It is made of stone with columns out front and guardian animals and large, leaded windows. The main doors do not open easily for the casual traveller, and when they do, the answers they find are not always the ones they want.
Ancient as it looks, the contents of the Library vary widely. Like most places I visit in the City, it is larger on the inside than on the outside. Inside are everything from maps to ancient scrolls to modern trashy paperbacks, stored in narrow aisles. Aside from the many floors of stacks, there are also small rooms and carrels for study.
The main reading room, where the Librarians meet with guests, has tall, gothic ceilings and wide worktables. Between the reading room and the vestible is the circulation desk, where various regular inhabitants of the Library can often be found. There is always at least one person at the circulation desk, sometimes more
There is also a sub-basement that is far more modern than anything else found in the library, including a room dominated by a very large computer. This space uses data storage crystals in a way that could easily be interpreted as Atlantean or Lemurian, if you were looking to make such a connection.
The closest thing I've ever heard described is the Akashic Records, but I've never met anyone whose worldview I meshed with that worked with it, so it's hard to figure out. I often go there when I'm not sure what to do next or I don't know what I'm dealing with, just as I do with my local library. In this case, though, it's more like journeywork than just hopping on the bus.
I have, on occasion, used a combination of pathwalking, where I wander with the otherworld overlapping this one, and bibliomancy in the library/Library itself. It can be brutally efficient, but I can't recommend it lightly.