Lancaster Public Library

Awesome place, they got everything u need and if there is something there missing they will go send for it. Books rentals are for 2 weeks and DVD/​CD ARE for 1 week.

The sad crown jewel of the Lancaster County Library system? Hardly. This library can’t afford decent lighting and, quite literally, bring a little flashlight with you, to browse some of the areas. It’s dark in place. While they have this enormous building it’s clear that either the money allocated isn’t enough or it’s spent poorly. The collections are good, in some ways, amazing. Newer media, like music CDs and film DVDs aren’t as strong. They have a very tight limit on what you can check out at a time, in that regard. The smallest limit that I’ve encountered.
All that said, the people, the staff, are uniformly wonderful. Warm, friendly and very knowledgable. I’m a huge fan of the people here and if I have a question that I can’t figure out on my own, they have always been willing and able to help me.
I think it’s a shame the suburban libraries, apparently, have much larger budgets. This should be the crown jewel and instead, it’s an old diamond in the rough and the collection, the staff and the people of Lancaster deserve better.
I still make it a regular stop though. I support them however I can.

Good:
— Business center. It should be given more resources, however, as it has limited hours.
— Large selection
— Convenient location
Bad:
— Customer service. I recently tried to contact the reference desk and they were busy so it went to voice mail, but there voice mail was full. Since I couldn’t leave a voice mail I called back 5 times without anyone answering. I also tried going to the circulation desk and getting routed down there or leaving a message with them and that didn’t work either.
— Bathrooms. There is a fair chance that the bathroom isn’t sanitary at any given time. It’s also only a person at a time bathroom, which is inconvenient.
— Food and drink not allowed. Other libraries are fine with a cup of coffee and some sell coffee as a convenience and to raise funds for the library.

I love this library… I am always really happy to come here and check out books. They have a pretty good selection of new stuff and if the book you want is at another location, they can order it for you. I love coming here to study. I find it pretty peaceful in the basement (non fiction department) or I also like to go upstairs in the room next to the children’s section, although it can get a little noisy if there are a bunch of kids around.
They have computers that you can hook up to the internet, although I haven’t ever used that service as I always bring my computer and use their wifi. This place definitely has «old» feel to it, that I attribute to the very distinctive musty «book smell» that is evident as soon as you walk in the door. But don’t let that fool you, they have a wide variety of books and films. You can rent «new» films for a $ 1 and keep them for a week.
The only downside to this library is the parking ! Their lot is SUPER small and metered, meaning you pay 25 cents for 10 minutes (1.50 and hour)
. not so cool.