Berkeley Public Library
2090 Kittredge St
(between Harold Way & Shattuck Ave)
Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 981-6100
29 Reviews for Berkeley Public Library
After being spoiled by the Santa Clara public library (which must have been built by silicon valley gazillionaires who felt they needed to give back - how did that place get the funds to be so posh?) the Berkeley public library falls a little short. It is in a very stately looking building, a sizeable two floors, and has a nice selection of nonfiction books. The second floor is particularly appealing for quite studying/reading.
My biggest complaint is that if you have ten books you want to read, 9 of them are checked out, with 87 holds placed on them by voracious berkeley readers. You gotta practice patience and have wide ranging reading habits to remain sustained by this place.
Everytime I go to a library and they have a sign posted somewhere, it always seems to end in "Thanks, your friends at the ________ Library."
My friends? Are you kidding me? You're old and grumpy and you give me evil glares when I'm typing my yelp reviews too loudly. There's no way we're going to link arms and walk down the street to get some coffee after you get off work. I personally never understood why it was always "your friends..." and never "I can't believe you're asking me where to find this book when it's clearly stated on the computer you just looked at, oh and BTW, I'm way smarter than you..."
And then there's the Berkeley Public Library. All 5 of their floors are filled with great material and resources for everyone. I love their selection of art and comic books on the 5th floor. Hell, I love everything about this library. I even love the staff. I've never experienced anything less than excellent service. Seriously, everyone who works here is super nice AND helpful. There have been many times where they've gone out of their way to help me find something or to just strike up a conversation with me. But I guess I'd be pretty nice too if I worked in this awesome library. *new goal in life*
I love my friends at the Berkeley Library, even if they don't know we're friends yet. (creepy)
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Overheard conversation while waiting in line at Berkeley Public:
Patron: I have a hold on a book but it's not available yet.
Librarian: Well sir, I can tell you the date it's due.
Patron: The date is already passed and the other person hasn't returned it. (starts wagging finger at librarian) I am getting very frustrated.
Librarian: Sir, we send letters to patrons who haven't returned books on time.
Patron: Yes, but you should be able to do more.
Librarian: Maybe you should talk to the Director...
Um, did he want the librarian to go knock on the door of the guy who has a book?? Did he forget that this is a FREE service???
I don't hang out at Berkeley Public much because I luckily have an ex boyfriend turned friend/personal librarian. But when i do stop in I find the staff to be helpful, and as you can see from the above conversation, patient.
It's a cool building and they have free wi-fi. So our taxes are going somewhere after all. Support your public libraries folks, I think we sometimes forget how lucky we are to have this service.
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Free wireless, air conditioning, clean, lots of work areas with power outlets for laptops. Floors 3 and 5 are good for working. Take the stairs, it's a nice view.
Beware the men's bathroom on the top floor. Some people like to use it as a bath... the kind where you wet paper towels, wipe yourself down, and fill the bathroom with your week-old stench. :(
As a little boy they used to walk us kids up to the main library and force us to check out books. It was to teach us respect for books, a sense of responsibility and a love for the written word. Inspire our imagination.
The looked like a grand castle to the elementary school me, the library, the YMCA and JC Pennies towering up into the sky in their great gray stone glory. Once through the grans entrance it was a labyrinth of metal book shelves reaching up into ceilings. The secret entrance up the yellow metal staircase was hidden back behind the labyrinth, more than being taken to the library I felt like we were being inducted into a secret society of readers. It was a perfect combination of quality books, great staff and almost cathedral esk awe inspiring look and feel.I cant imagine a better library to inspire a child in regards to reading.
That being said, I was hopeless. Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe as my reading tutors probably could have done no good for me. By 2nd grade letters had only one good purpose in my eyes - as math variables. Also by 2nd grade I was already sneaking off from the reading groups to go look at the playboy mags they had which the pictures removed... I still knew what was supposed to be there and that was good enough for me.
And checking out books.... lordy, lordy, why did they make me check out more books when I was only going to lose them. I lost book after book after book after book. That respect for the written word, garsh, I was a written word sociopathic killer. I think I slept walked my books into a pit in the back yard. Someday the library CSI unit is going to unearth years of tortured library books from my childhood home. WHY OH WHY did they make me check out more books?
Years and years later I went in to the Berkeley public library and tried to get a library card under, but I used my full real name rather then the nickname that my childhood account had been under... And still I was red flagged, they wanted to know if I was related to this other kid that still owed them a chunk of change from 15 years earlier. I pointed at a fake bird and bolted out the door - didn't even go check out the doctored nudy mags. At this point I think I will just will them my house when I die. And a map to where the books are hidden.
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Well, first of all, let me just state that I am a huge fan of public libraries and this one is exceptional! The building itself has been well designed with many nods to the former structure & some amazing architectural nuances in this modern iteration. I especially like the way the different floors have very specific types of information. The Children's floor has an outstanding amount of books, magazine, videos, DVDs. The librarians are unfailingly helpful. I wish they would enforce a quieter atmosphere (you know, for kids who like to read or do homework...). This seems to have gone the way of the Dodo...(for the full tirade on this particular issue, please see my other library reviews!)...
I really want to commend the staff who put together the historical & photographic displays. My favorite exhibition so far has been seeing what sort of crafty business the library staff gets up to in non-work hours! Just the cool knitting projects alone certainly inspired me! I like the magazine room with rows of tables and incredible natural light filtering in. The guards on the main floor seem a bit over the top...but, I guess in this time we live in & with the volatile nature of some of Berkeley's dispossessed, this is probably necessary.
I really try not to come to this branch much tho' since the parking is miserable nearby, the ticket metering is Nazi-like, and the gauntlet of homeless with shopping carts, smelly dogs, and general funk make this less than my number one choice. I might also add that the very loud teenagers from Berkeley High who do not seem to have any structure on any given afternoon have made this place a morning-only stop for me. Did I mention how much I wish librarians had the authority to tell loud-mouth individuals to either "Be Quiet" or "Please Leave"??? For these reasons I really cannot give 5 stars, and honestly, if it were not for the stellar librarians themselves, I could easily drop this down another star. In a time when schools, health care & every other service that helps to foster a sense of humanity, are on the financial chopping block, I have to be as generous as possible to our public libraries. In this case, I truly believe we must "use them or lose them", and I would kindly ask that those who choose to frequent them? Please be courteous to others and realize we are there to read or do something quietly, not hear your cell-phone chatter, your I-pod business or your day-to-day minutiae at a stage whisper! Thanks, and keep reading!
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I love this library. This is where I would go to get my homework done when I was in high school and it's where I go now to get my law school applications done online. The only problem is that they are open such short hours on Sunday!
Some of the people that wander in off the street are a bit strange. They can be a bit strange. Or smell. But luckily it is ventilated. I like the new renovations that they did to the place. It's more open. And the heating works much better than at my house. It's quiet for the most part except when people talk on their cell phones. And they have free internet!!!
The thing that sucks, and it's no fault of the BPL, is that the places to eat around here are terrible. If it were not for the fact that I'm hauling ass to finish my law school aps, I wouldn't even bother going to eat around here. But since I'm stuck here from open until close, I'm forced to walk around and decide which place would upset my stomach the least. Which is why I've written so many reviews for restaurants in the downtown area.
This place is amazing. First of all, hats off to a wonderful staff!! I mean these peeps are really trying to improve this place. Take for example their website. The search ability and design is always improving. I have to compliment the team that does this. They are really trying to make the web user friendly.
But the building itself is really well kept and clean. The ability to use inter-library transfers to get books is phenomenal and makes it worth the visit. What is inter-library transfer? It's when you want a book that another branch or library in the state has it and you can borrow it. Its called Link Plus. And it is a life saver.
A visit here is really great the reading room (not the bathroom) is really well done and very comfortable. Use of the PCs is easy and not at all frowned upon.
Highly recommend this place...
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the library deserves one star for the excellent service i have gotten in the children's section. i went in looking for a book i only remembered by the word peppermint and the librarian found it and handed it to me in under 5 minutes. this mind you was after hours of me trolling the internet trying to find it.
but my experience today has completely colored my view of the library. i went online first to see if they had the book i wanted and then i walked over to the library. as i walked in the guard quite rudely informed me that i had two minutes till close. implying that i wouldnt even be able to check anything out. i told him that i knew that the book was there and all that i needed was to find the section it was in. then i asked where the section was and was pointed to a stack that was very close to the check out station. i'm looking for my book and finding the "d" section of sci-fi next to the "z" section of mystery. confused as to where the "b" section of sci- fi that i need was, i looked around. then 30 seconds after my conversation with the guard. i get bombarded by unhelpful jerks that try to force me out of the library. all i needed was the "b" section to grab my book and they were quite unwilling to help me out.
i was STANDING in the sc-ifi section and they wouldn't even point to the "b"'s. as i walk out catch a lot of mouthy flack off the staff, and then later while walking back to work i check my phone and the time is 6:03. now i understand the need to get the hell out of work and the desire not to be held up because of one last person. i work at a customer service job, and i've felt that need. but i wasnt even in the building for over a minute and the security guard told me that i had TWO. if i had been told that they were closed when i walked in the door( when according to my clock they should have been closed) i would have just come back the next day and been saved the horrible taste in my mouth that the staff of the library left there.
I'm so lucky to live just blocks from this amazing resource. I love ordering books online and being able to bike up to get them when they come in. And now they have wifi! Not to mention the library staff -- I've never seen anyone working here who has failed to be polite, kind and helpful. Berkeley, you do your library right!
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I am so happy they have wireless internet now. I love what everyone else has written about them, the staff truly are great and the main library is beautiful.
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Change my mind.
Some dishonest fuck, is responsible for fines of a 'lost or unreturned' dvd that i have to pay.
FUCK THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i will not be held accountable for someone else's dishonesty or incompetence!
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Great kids' section, but this library's insistence on forcing us to use the automated checkout machine is making me love the Oakland library so much more.
I freaking hate checking out my own CDs, sticking them into that weird little meatgrinder thing ... arrghhh
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I've worked in downtown Berkeley for about a year and for some stupid reason, never ventured down to the library despite it being a few blocks away. WHAT AN IDIOT I AM. This library is a gorgeous and modern and filled to the rafters with books. I found the stacks easy to navigate and well lit. The selection is enormous with a ton of videos, DVDs and other things to check out. The staff is helpful and there's a ton of catalog computers to use. Check out is automated and completely easy to use.
Am I the only one that misses those old library catalog drawers? Boo.
Anyway, there's free internet terminals at the Central location. There's a 15 minute limit for usage and, of course, a line.
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*disclaimer! I am a librarian, so all libraries will likely receive 5 stars from me. Naturally, I love them on principle. Support your local library!!!!*
Beautiful renovated reading room. Just like how a library should be with grand ceilings, little reading lamps, and large wooden tables.
Sadly, I rarely use the library as a building but I often order books to borrow online and then pick them up--a great free service! They have a lot of great online resources too for library card holders wishing to find articles and other information from the comfort of their own homes.
I tend to borrow a lot of literature, but other useful collections include crafts, cooking, and music. Fun to browse current magazines, too.
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Please believe I am quite aware how much off an asshole I sound putting down a library, of all places. Maybe it'll go over better if I throw in a cute literary-flavored adage to cushion the blow, something to the tune of not judging a book by its cover:
Though the Berkeley library is beautiful on the outside, and spacious and marble-y on the inside as well, I mainly go to a library for one reason -- books. And personally, I've found Berkeley's selection to be pretty disappointing. Whenever I peruse the selection of new fiction, all I seem to see are random, not particularly interesting novels. And then there'll be an insane 50 person waitlist for a book that I do want, and only one or two copies of it to go around. This is sad to me, because A. obviously books are my only friends, and my life is painfully lacking in excitement (see my previous library review. oh yes, there's more than one.) and B. i refuse to believe that there are fewer literate, library going people in berkeley than westwood, ca, (LA, that is), yet the westwood library selection is remarkably superior to berkeley's. what up?
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I love the modern libraries. Each floor has its own ambience. I think my favorite is the top floor where all the CDs and art books and folios are stored. Very cool!
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This is the quintessential 21st-Century library....grand architecture, 20-30 computers for (free!) internet rental, vast collection of books, helpful & knowledgable staff. Yes, it can be a magnet for the homeless, but hey they're people too. Everyone is welcome here (including hot babes ;)), and it can be a great place to people-watch if you're so inclined.
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A month ago I would've given this library four stars because their selection, though vast, was not comprehensive enough for me. I began to consider shelling out money to my college alumni association so that I could check out books from their library. UNTIL NOW. Berkeley Public Library recently implemented Link+, which is a union of library catalogues. Let's say I can't find a particular book at BPL - I could look it up in the Link+ catalog and if another library has it, I can request it to be delivered free of charge! BPL patrons now have access to SF State, San Jose State, and St. Mary's library collections, just to name a few. It's amazing! I recently requested four books and they were delivered in less than a week. (The only catch is that you have to be super careful not to lose or late-return these books - the late and replacement fees are very steep.)
As for the rest of the library: the historic reading room is beautiful, the new check-out machines, though somewhat temperamental, make it faster to check out, the Art & Music room (fifth floor) is fun to browse, and the workers are kind and helpful. What more could you ask for in a library?
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I love this library. It's gigantic, clean, and well-lit. It's a great place to hide for hours and pore over cookbooks, language tapes, study, or search for your newest bibliophilic obssession. And, you can scan your own books out... Wait, there's this machine that seems to be *under* the marble tabletops... You just set your books on top of it and it just .... reads them, magically... no barcode, no scanner... you can even do three at a time. Ooooh, technology. I always wonder if my boss would find it funny if I dragged her here and set my head down on the countertop, waited for the beep, and then said, "See? I'm checked out until Aug 10. Not available for patron use." Probably not.
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Am I the only one who fondly remembers and frankly prefered the old Central Branch building? Talk about fantastic! Full of dark, polished wood, a grand entryway with the stacks soaring overhead... people bustling about, the central tables on the Shattuck side... It was marvelous. I am not a fan of the 1 bookdrop and the practically underground entrance of the newer redesign. That said, I do adore the public library system, particularly the Hold feature, and my personal favorite branch, North. The North Branch is pretty small (I'd read all the YA books by the time I was about 14), but it's beautiful. Though the selection could definitely be better, the library system is pretty good about purchasing suggested books, and keeping even the most requested ones in good reading order.
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A great place to go for all of your reading needs. The staff is courteous and friendly. The building itself (bathrooms included because at other libraries like in SF they're disgusting) is clean and items are easy to find.
You can even check out magazines, cds, dvds, vhs tapes, and for Berkeley residents-tools.
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My first impression was from the outside staring at the building. I couldn't help thinking "wow" over and over again. A graceful art-deco building built when people felt that public buildings should be attractive and something worth looking at. The insides is modern and efficient with 5 stories of books, music, and movies on it. One small thing I enjoyed was the comment wall where patrons could ask questions or make comments on what they liked or disliked about the library. Some of the comments were funny but what was even better was some of the responses from the staff! Easily worth a few chuckles.
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Berkeley residents rejoice! They have an enormous music collection here and their jazz selection is outstanding. Remember the famous words of Negativeland: "Copy-write infringement is your best entertainment value."
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This is a good library but something about it depresses me. For one thing, being in Berkeley makes it a haven for homeless people who are often mentally ill or just downright creepy. The stacks are hopelessly gloomy and dark. A friend of mine was hit by drops of cum from the floor above her (no, I'm not joking). I do have good memories of going there with my mother when I was very young, and working there in my first job when I was in high school (for a whopping $2/hour). My job was typing "pockets and cards" (back in the days when library books had such things) for children's books.
8/7/2007 update: What a shock to go into this library and see how much it's changed from re-modeling. It is unrecognizable from the library I remember from my childhood and beyond. This library remained unchanged for decades, but it's modernized and beautiful now.
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this library is a gem, and hell yeah we waited and paid for it. the renovation turned out so beautifully, i can only gush. the berkeley library has the goods! the earnest nerdy librarians, a solid fiction room, dvds, cds, even a respectable foreign language books section. they can get you pretty much any book you want, though you may have to wait for it to arrive via some special magic lending source, and new books can be awfully hard to see on the shelf. i plug away looking for the new books to no avail until i just forget that i ever wanted to read them and settle on whatever vapid fiction is sitting on the shelf. i missed out on freakonimics that way, and eat/pray/love, and i am sure god is not great will be checked out for at least a year. i know this doesn't sound like a 5 star review, but i forgive it all, i forgive BPL for everything because their magazine reading room rocks and i love the art deco details and the old marble stairs. it's got great light and tons of books and it's just a solid public space that makes me feel peaceful and like i am exercising some civic duty just by checking out a book.
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all of the people that work here are really friendly and passionate about their jobs, which is a great touch. it's a big library but not so big--it really feels like a friendly independent bookstore. the san francisco public library feels a bit more faceless and beauracratic in comparison.
it's also super cool that you can get a tie-dye library card!
it's also a happy vibe in front of the library on a weekend, all the freaks hanging out and singing and dancing.
i also like the new books section in the front, where i cherrypick a lot of my reads. I'm a heavy reader... and they stock mp3 audio books, another great touch!
Call me a geek cause I work at a museum and visit this library sometimes twice a week, but I love reading books and watching DVDs for free! One little secret that many people don't know about is the request/hold list. I just make up to 15 requests/holds of movies and books I want to read, including all of the newest released DVDs and poof, they show up at the library. Sometimes it takes a while, but I am patient and it's better that way. Netflix gets you addicted to watching movies non-stop, so this makes me appreciate the movies I watch. You can now pick your hold items up on the shelves yourself and check them out at the self-checkout machines. These aren't always functioning perfectly, but it's still a great way to get in and out of the library when you're in a rush. They also have a great selection of art books and magazines on the top floor. This floor also offers a fantastic view of SF on a clear day. I hope that apartment building going next door doesn't block this. I'll have to see...
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