A lot has changed over the years its wayyy better more activities and programs. They have…read moredefinitely come around with the times. 1. The childrens librarian is fire... lets just say her energy is on 10 everytime i see her. 2. They have cooking contest, game nights yes im talking about video games and yes the librarian beat them kids a$$ lol dont let the glasses and sweater fool ya. 3. she also gave us take home projects, the most recent was was very interesting to say the least, but my kids and I had a ball doing it. 4. More book selections than when i was a child and its more of a comfortable lounge area so the children can feel relaxed. My children 7, 9, 14 beg me to take them they love it.

I'm composing this review from THIS library via computer, how ironic…read more Anyway, I remember when my mother and I use to come to this library daily from 12/01 until 3/02, and man, this library had some darn good books back then-Russian to English books, French to English books, unabridged English dictionaries-hey I'm sorry, I'm a book lover/foreign language lover, and always have been, so this place was for me, no ifs ands or buts! One time, in late January 2002, on the outside of the womens' restroom, which is still neat and clean nowadays, I took a blue ink pen and wrote the word FUCK in tiny capital letters, about the size of what you see in this review, oh silly little 15-y-o me. Back on topic (lmao), today, the library is still clean, still has friendly staff, it's very, very quiet and peaceful here today, even at 4p.m., and there is still a large selection of good books for me, a known bookworm, to open and enjoy. Hadn't been to this library in, gosh, how many years, five or six years, and I didn't do much here that day. Nevertheless, I still love this library, and I highly recommend it, even though there's plenty of useless vermin outside it.

The library is beautiful. It was established as a Carnegie library back in the day. They have a…read moreHUGE children's section--honestly, the children's services department puts most of the CPL libraries to shame. When I was here I saw some advertisements for some really cool programs. Children, teens, adults can all find something interesting. There are in person programs as well as hybrid ones, and some of their book clubs meet both in person and virtually, which is pretty great. Interestingly, they don't seem to have a checkout desk--from what I can tell, it's all self checkout. There's a patron services desk when you enter, but that's more for help and information. To the right of patron services is a self checkout and there's also one in the children's services department. There's a large meeting room on the first floor, where various events are held. The children's services section is one we haven't fully explored but they have an all-gender toilet with baby changing station, as well as a calming room. The calming room requires access from one of the librarians. There is a portable baby changing station here (be sure to bring your diaper changing pad since it's fabric, and you know there's a baby who pottied as their diaper was being changed). There's also a sink, which is helpful. And there are some toys and materials that help children to be calm, breathe deep, sit and decompress. It's a great idea. Outside there's a little courtyard with a sculpture and they (sometimes, at least) have some Adirondack-style chairs out to kick back and relax. There's also an area that has some chess tables outside of the library. There doesn't seem to be dedicated parking for the library. Instead, you'll find parking on the street or in the public lot to the west of the library. It's public, free, three hour parking but it's shared with any businesses in the Uptown district. The Park Ridge Metra Station is also directly to the west of the library. In the outside as well as inside there's a sensor where you can wave your hand to hehe the door open, rather than one of the push-button ones. Although it's in general accessible, there are detectors when you enter the library so I'm not sure if someone with a wheelchair or other mobility device would be able to easily enter.

We returned here after a long ~5 year hiatus with my oldest grand-darling. She had another school…read moreday off and we dropped in to putz around a bit in the children's department. It was a perfect place to visit, and she did a little art project that was posted on the wall with contributions from other kids, she played an educational video game, and she picked up a complimentary DIY make a kite kit, which was this month's library promotion for kids. The children's department is still top notch and there is plenty to do here with some free time, and we'll visit again sometime. Along the way, we were very pleased to have a reunion with Mrs. Mary Mason who was manning the children's department desk. I remembered her from her wonderful toddler story-time sessions with this same grand-daughter, and she is now an 18 year veteran. It was a delight to see excellent staff like her stay with this also excellent library and that there was mutual loyalty in this day and age of jumping around. My grand-daughter honestly didn't remember a thing about this place or Mrs. Mary, but who does when they are only 2 years old. Oh well, c'est la vie, but we shall return.

The open mezzanine is a nice feature of the building design. They have dvds for browsing here.read more

Nice folks work here. They've always been kind and helpful to me. Clean and nice environment, too.read more

This is an amazing library. They have 4 floors of books and resources, scientific and research…read morejournals, Chicago archives and much more. it is sad to see no one has acknowledged the massive amount of books and journals they have here, I think its incredible and super resourceful. First floor: They have a Starbucks cafe, a few eating areas, a reading room on the right side (a quiet room for studying filled with desks and some couches). They have a study area called "idea commons" on the left side, its a pretty cool study area, they have unique tables, and nice little sections with couches and huge white boards to study on, there is also computers towards the back, very nice study area altogether. They also have a circulation desk which is where you check out books/return them. Second Floor: VERY NOISY, BUT THATS THE POINT. The second floor is designed to be loud and a collaborative area. lots of tables so usually big groups of students study together over projects and what not (hence collaboration). HOWEVER, if you walk to the left or right side, you'll start to see the beautiful selection of books I was mentioning earlier. on the left side and right side, there are tables and tables for studying, the farther back you go, the quieter it gets even though you're on the loud second floor. There are printing sections here but I think you have to be a UIC student. Third Floor: SUPER QUiET :). There aren't a lot of tables on this floor, This floor is mostly taken up with all the books and journals they have. I have gone through most of their selection, and they have everything you can think of and then some. Fourth Floor: VErY QUIET :). This floor is the best if you have a lot of work to get done and focus. PLENTY OF TABLES. Great section of books and journals (once again), they have these unique couches with a tiny table attached to them, usually students with laptops use those. There is also a section of comfortable chairs towards the west side of the floor with a shelf of books next to them. You have a nice little view of the Chicago skyline too! Overall, this library is pretty big. People usually take the stairs because the elevators are super slow and can only fit like 4 people. If you want something to read from the 1970's to now, this is your place. Real resources, real journals, atlas books, encyclopedias, its just amazing. I hope people will feel the same way I do when they visit here.

When I spent hours a day here, Richard M. Daley was not yet the next mayor Daley, his father was a…read morevery recent memory having just passed away in office when I was in high school. It was the Circle Campus library, and it was a place where we used a card catalog (primitive Google) to find books (sort of like Wikipedia only factual and printed in ink on paper) to study (like a Starbucks) and think (no contemporary parallel). It's a good university library with some interesting displays, special collections, highly trained research librarians, and oddly, they still have some books. Stark 1970s architecture on the outside (in those days the student protest movement inspired defensible college design, narrow windows, walls difficult to scale, sturdy concrete that's not flammable, easily secured gates and doors) the library is much more attractive on the inside. It's much louder on the inside than it was in pre-mobile phone days, I guess librarians gave up on shushing decades ago. Oh, and somewhere in the bowels of this repository is my first Master's thesis. Turns out it would take a special request to dig it up, and I didn't want to waste their time as I've read it before.

The CPL has some great events, which I knew before I had a baby, but I had obviously not…read moreinvestigated their kids programs at that time. Now my time is really her time and I have been checking out what the various CPL branches have to offer to get us out of the house, socializing, and learning. Our calendar is getting increasingly packed as we plan to visit several of the CPL's 81 branch libraries. This week we visited the Logan Square branch for both Tummy Time and Story Time with Ms. Erica in the community room and it was great. There were 10 or so other baby-parent pairs. At the tummy time program, most of the children were on the younger side since I don't think babies need tummy time once they can crawl (although there were a few walkers there), and story time was more older children though I still would take my seven week old so she could hear and learn. The librarian had some rhymes and songs ready for the kids, and read a few books as well. Some of the songs were in both English and Spanish. The tummy time program was scheduled for a half hour but she went another 20 minutes at least, which was great for us since I can't tell time. I definitely appreciate her being generous with her time! Story time must be popular because there were two back to back sessions scheduled and I noticed the first one was really packed. I'm not sure how proficient the libarian is with a guitar (she may be a virtuoso for all I know), but she had one there and Erica shares her talents with little ones by playing the guitar for them, using it to accompany the songs we sang along to. This morning she let children strum the guitar on their way out. As an added treat, there was a bubble machine that Erica turned on and the kids really loved it. I think mine is too little to yet understand what they were but she did seem intrigued. And I appreciate that Erica offered to take a photo of me and my bambina after the program was completed (thank you!). I don't live in Logan Square, and even though there are at least ten branches closer to us than this one I would love to visit and attend as long as my little one is not too crabby to get here (it's about 20 minutes away from us). Erica was very welcoming, as was another library employee who greeted us whilst we were waiting for the second story time to begin. This library is about the same size as most of the other branches and has parking for 15-20 cars which is certainly helpful. I almost missed it, honestly; maybe it was just me but it was kinda hidden. There's also street parking which appeared to be free as well. (As an aside, I recently realized that I've been mistaken in calling many of the libraries small; I've been thinking in terms of Sulzer Library, my neighborhood library, which is one of the three regional libraries; rather than compare them to Sulzer, the non-regional branches should be compared to one another and this one is reasonably sized from that perspective.) Across the street is a coffee shop called Sip of Hope, where all proceeds go to suicide prevention efforts, so if you need coffee before or after you will find no more convenient spot to satisfy that vice. Probably an unexpected FYI, but this branch has Narcan available for free. I took a box since I've been meaning for years to buy some and keep it with me in case I'm somewhere where someone appears to be overdosing. I know I've seen it at other branches but sometimes the dispenser boxes are empty and I'm not sure if this has been rolled out to every branch yet, but it's a great community service.

Love this branch of the chicago public Libraries…read more Helpful staff, clean spaces, great kids section.

Love this library! The only issue I have (and it is 100% my issue,) is that everytime I want to go…read moreto the librarary, it happens to occur before noon on Wednesday. Otherwise, super friendly and knowledgeable staff. They have a 3d printer. Love it

Many people might not know this, but all CPL have word processing (Libre office) and allow…read moreUSB/flash/thumb/etc drives to save files. Computer help is also available here. The staff is friendly and helpful. Unless there are programs this library is quiet enough to get work done.

I'm on a quest to visit every branch of the Chicago Public Library system…read more This is probably the emptiest library I've ever seen. There were about three other patrons when I visited. This is nice if you're looking for a quiet space and a pretty much confirmed seat. There were plenty of open tables! The entertainment DVD selection was small, but the educational/documentary DVDs were plentiful! (I didn't see any music, now that I think about it.) There was also a very large section of books on tape. The periodicals are set up nicely in this library; I usually forget about them since they're not out in the open, but there is a very dominant place for them. The adult side of the library is small, but the shelves are PACKED. I was impressed by the BIG children's space! Half the library is dedicated to children's media, and it looked like a very nice space: plenty of tables, plenty of books and lots of color. Almost all of the museum passes were in when I visited, so I think this is a good branch to visit if you're trying to hunt down a pass (though the popular Shedd and Field passes were out). Oh, and the staff was really helpful and friendly!

Public libraries are vital and so important. Great staff, teachers on site for afterschool…read moreprograms, conference rooms for library and neighborhood programs. Great technology/computers!

The Lincoln Park branch of the Chicago Public Library is wildly inconsistent. Some librarians are…read moregenuinely friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful -- the kind of people who make libraries feel welcoming. Unfortunately, a few others seem completely disinterested in helping patrons at all. One staff member in particular (she is often at the reference desk but sometimes up front) has been consistently rude every time I've interacted with her. The most frustrating example was when I asked for help with an interlibrary loan. Instead of taking two seconds to help me or even explaining the process, she just tossed me a phone number and sent me away. I later discovered the request could easily be done online in basically no time at all -- meaning she absolutely could have helped while I was standing right there. I understand nobody loves their job every single day, but that's not an excuse to mood-tunnel and take it out on random people who are politely asking for assistance. Libraries are public resources, and patrons shouldn't be made to feel like they're inconveniencing staff by asking basic questions. Again, some employees here are excellent. But the rude, dismissive attitude from a particular librarian at the reference desk (she was masked memorial day weekend) really drags the whole branch down.

Love this library! It's definitely not the biggest branch, but I have zero issues talking to a…read morelibrarian whenever I need to, there's pretty much always one available. The hours on google maps are accurate so long as it's not a holiday, and the librarians are super nice whenever I can't find my hold, they'll usually offer to help since I'm blind and can't see stuff in front of me.