Elizabethtown Public Library

How sad that I have to drop one star on a library, much less a library in a nice place like Etown.
So here’s the story. I’ve spent the last few months visiting and borrowing from all the Lancaster County Libraries. I’ve had a LCL card for more than a decade and borrowed (and returned) thousands of items over the years. In the last few months I’ve been visiting the other branches (I live closest to the Downtown Lancaster branch) to see what they had in their collections and borrow things I could not get downtown.
Because each library has different rules, the first thing I do is I check in at the main desk and ask them what limits they have on borrowing. Every branch is different. Some have no limits, some ten items, some five items, it depends on the media and the branch so checking is important.
So when I asked the women at the front desk what the limit on music CDs was, and she asked her co-​worker and they decided there was no limit (Manheim Township and Lititz do not limit music CDs either) I was happy as Etown looked like it had a sizable collection.
So I spent an hour going through about half their music CD collection and selecting about forty discs to listen to (you have two weeks with music CDs). I get the counter and the first thing is the woman tells me «You know I have to open each and every one of these and check them.» and I, somewhat sheepishly apologize for the stack and thank her for her efforts. She’s about halfway through checking them out to me when the other woman working says, «We have a ten CD limit.» I was confused and, since this was the woman I originally asked about the limit, asking her why she didn’t tell me this before. She tells me she just noticed a sign that says ten CD limit. Which I never saw but was, apparently, there. I explain I live twenty miles away and just spent an hour selecting these no, coming back five more times, at least, was not in my plan. So I apologized and let empty handed. The woman checking out the CDs also explained that if she had allowed me to borrow the discs it would represent hundreds of dollars in CDs. To which I offered no response. I’m not going to be rude to a librarian but I will say here, that’s total crap. CDs, today, are worth very little. Stuff lent out by libraries, used and scratched as they always are, are worth very little. Which is all beside the point as I’ve checked out, literally, hundreds of CDs from Lancaster County Libraries and returned them all promptly, with no damage and with everything they came with (booklets and such).
All of which is to say, I left empty handed, they wasted my time and insulted me. And for what? Because they thought I was going to steal their classical CD section 40 discs at a time? I thought the purpose of a library was to lend things to cardholders, not jealously protect them as though they were personal possessions.
This is the only library, the only one, where I have had this problem so shame on the Etown library. One star is too good for them.

This review is for the full service coffee shop in here. Fast and friendly service!

I enjoy going to the library in Etown, it’s always very clean and organized. My kids enjoy hanging out upstairs and although it’s not special to Etown, the Online Library Catalog makes searching, reserving and paying fines (or donations, as I see them) incredibly easy.

This is a very complete library — it has virtually everything a small town needs. Fast free wifi, great selection of books and a fantastic childrens section. The coffee shop attached to the library is the best coffeeshop in town, and not only is it cheap — the proceeds go to the library.

The library is centrally located and is walking distance from my home (and many people who live in Etown). A unique thing about the Etown library is that it has a full service coffee shop. Apparently, the executive director of the library used to be a barista in San Francisco. If I got one complaint it’s that the card readers are so old they are hit or miss with actually reading my library card.