Los Angeles Public Library – West Los Angeles Branch

Lame, really dated, dirty windows, no parking, serves a lot of street people, slow internet.

I have a great job here. I sort & shelve library materials, assist patrons, help with opening & closing procedures, & assist with other library duties as needed. As a semi-​retired person who was a secretary for 32 years with a lot of daily pressures & deadlines, it’s great to be doing something I truly enjoy. Working with books of all different kinds, as well as other library materials, is truly fulfilling for me. The job means a great deal to me and I’m thankful every day for it.

I’m new to LA… this library is very close to where I’m living for now. I’m glad about that, I can just walk there. I don’t have my computer here yet, so it’s convenient for me to go to this location. Yes there are a lot of homeless people who use the computers. They seem to stay to themselves and I have not had a problem. They are people just like everybody else. I pray one day they can update this location to make it a little more inviting. but I’m still grateful.

Absolutely horrible customer service. Older Asian woman at the information desk shouldn’t be working with the public with her sour attitude and rude behavior. I was in an emergency situation and desperately needed to use their phone. My phone had died and I was being followed. I explained my situation and asked to use the phone.
«Why? It’s not my fault you’re having a bad day.»
«I understand, I just really need to use your phone.»
«You can’t use our phone.»
«It’s an emergency, please»
«I really don’t care».
At this point, I started speaking loudly and drawing attention to myself, and that’s when she quickly allowed me to use the phone because her supervisor was making her way over to see what was wrong.
«Who are you calling?»
«My husband»
«Why can’t he just help you instead»
«that’s exactly why I’m calling him»
«Why can’t you just leave and go to him?»
«Because I’m being followed and I don’t feel safe to leave.»
«You’re trouble, you should leave.»
«I just need to use your phone and then I’ll leave»
I then proceeded to call my husband to tell him where I was, and for him to come get me, and before I could spend more than a minute on the phone, she took it from me and hung it up. Then she told me to get out.
I’m disgusted. So much for public service. Never coming back! She deserves to be fired!

Very useful, the west la branch is very centrally located for, well, west LA. Right on santa monica with time-​limited parking meters around the corner for pickups drop-​offs, parking on the street and drop off bins out front.
Consistent service, knowledgeable staff. The person at the front desk always updates me on new rules and changes whenever I pass by.
Will do if you need a corner to get some work done evenings, except they just open to 8pm twice a week due to LA budget cuts (thanks bc everyone has time during regular working hours),
Available collection is decent if you just want to pick something at random, but I suggest you use your online account to have the LAPL delivery service send you what you want wherever is closest to you, and you’ll get a text when your stuff is there.
People say it’s dirty but it’s not: there are homeless persons there (same as the santa monica public library or any other public library). Just remember, they’re there for the exact same reason you are: you want things you don’t want to pay for.

Not the best library in the world, but in a great location. Very walkable/​bikable for the huge crowd that lives nearby, and also next to a postal station. Decent selection of books, but I was more interested in downloading their Audio CD’s for commutes to work in the car. Good times. On Sundays the Farmer’s market is next door. Friendly staff, and of course all the fun places to go afterwards or before on Sawtelle or Santa Monica Blvd.

***This branch of the Los Angeles Public Library feels more rundown and out-​of-​date than other Los Angeles Public Libraries I have been to; their selection seems limited too***
I do not believe this branch has its own parking lot. Metered street parking is available.

What am I doing reviewing a library? Well, if you are looking for a place to study or relax and read a magazine, don’t come here. It’s tiny, very limited seating, and filled with homeless people. I personally love the public library system, so this not meant to be critical of libraries. Just an advisory for anyone who may otherwise waste time coming to this library.

The pros:
It’s a regional library, so it has expanded hours and a pretty decent collection compared to regular branches. That’s really its main saving grace.
Mostly friendly staff with one exception (see below).
The cons:
No parking lot. Most of the parking within walking distance is metered. The general area is badly congested, so avoid coming here during the morning and evening commutes if you can.
As another reviewer pointed out, the Asian woman at the info desk (Maria?) always has a sour-​faced expression, which is comical since she took a job that involves interacting with people on a daily basis. Go figure.
That strip of Santa Monica Blvd. is pretty run down and seedy, so I only come during the day and never bring my laptop because it isn’t the kind of branch you’d want to sit and work in for any length of time.

There are a LOT of homeless people at this branch. It makes it hard to concentrate when trying to study. And there isn’t a parking lot for the library as well. Had to find street parking three blocks away. Oh well, I could use the exercise I guess.

Came here to check out some books for research. I have to agree with Unilocaler Caroline W. that this branch seems scary.
Rather than coming back to return the books I checked out, I’m gonna return them to my local library instead.
Another thing that detracts is the lack of free parking unlike other LA County library branches on the Westside.

Great DVD selection. Amazingly friendly and helpful staff (except for «Maria” – older Asian woman working info desk this morning – who was abrasive, unpleasant and unhelpful).

Four times a year, this West Los Angeles Branch holds a book sale from morning till 3 in the afternoon.
Among the boxes piled high with cliched romance drivel and old VHS tapes, there are treasures to be had. My finds:
— Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech;
— Odalisque, by Fiona McIntosh;
— The Vagina Monologues, by Eve Ensler;
— His Excellency George Washington, by Joseph J. Ellis;
— and Cocktail Time, by P.G. Wodehouse.
One book of poems, one fantasy, one liberal episodic play, one biography, and one 1950s comic novel. Hardcovers at 2 dollars, and paperbacks at 1. Not bad for experimental reading in new genres/​authors unheard of that you might otherwise have steered away from.

Ah, my neighborhood library. I love being able to walk here but I don’t go as often as I should (I have a penchant for buying books. it’s why I have two large Ikea Billy bookcases in my small one bedroom apartment.)
The staff are great. I love friendly librarians. I love being able to login to my account online to extend my reservation so I don’t have to pay late fees.
There are also some Japanese language books here! I really wanted to find some Korean ones, too, but I guess since Sawtelle is known as «Little Osaka» they don’t have any. They have Japanese books ranging from cookbooks, novels to origami how-​to books available. Anything they don’t have you can just look online to reserve it and pick it up here!

Due to LA Budget cuts (boooo), the library’s hours have changed, they are only open 5 days a week and only 2 weekdays will they be open until 8 pm.

This is my neighborhood library. I come here several times a week. The staff is always friendly, helpful and patient.
The library gets a little hot in the summer, but it’s not big deal.
There’s a great selection of CD’s and only a few DVD’s (unfortunately). However, you can put whatever you can find in the LAPL catalog on hold and pick it up here. The hold system is wonderful.
The staff in this library has never lost a book I’ve returned (which used to happen constantly at the library we went to in the Valley when we lived there).
This library also has a great science fiction collection for such a small library. I can always find an exciting science fiction book when I go browsing through the stacks.

This place definitely has an odor — and not a good one. Like other reviewers noted, there are usually plenty of «transients» using the library. Oh well. The atmosphere isn’t exactly inviting — very institutional looking and the child area isn’t bright and cozy like most kids’ sections. They basically just put a few small tables in one area. (Not that I frequent this section).
However, the staff has been helpful whenever I’ve needed help. And the LA Public Library hold system is pretty friggin’ great — this branch library is small so you don’t have too much in stock. But just reserve the books you want online and they’ll ship it to this library for you to pick up. And then they’ll notify you by e-​mail when it’s available. I do this and have to spend maybe a minute or two in the BO-​ridden library and can leave with an armful of (audio)books for my long commute.

Okay, if everyone this place were a food place, it’d be like a taco shop. Sure it’s a bit dirty, sure its a bit cramped, sure there are sometimes weirdos hanging out, but you know it’ll be there for you, and you always know what to expect.
It doesn’t compare to the Santa Monica Public Library in cleanliness and size, but it has a decent small selection, and you can request any books from anywhere in the LAPL system and have it sent here for you. If you just need a place to read and catch up on some work, it beats hanging out at starbucks where your WLA mommy is yapping on the phone about her cute hairdresser, while sipping her overpriced non-​fat soy latte. Non-​fat? Drink some water, exercise instead.
There are some times homeless people here using the internet, hanging out reading books, but honestly, what do you expect them to do? They’re on the street, you tell them to move. They’re trying to read a book, you tell them to move. Get over it. You’re people they’re people. Let’s just treat each other with some respect.

Run for your life! Don’t come here unless you’re wearing a bullet proof vest.
You would never think this library is just a mile from Santa Monica and Century City. This is the scariest library, I have ever been to in my life — and I’ll never go back (and you can’t make me!). As others mentioned, this place is filled inside and out with homeless people that live and «hang-​out» here. As I was browsing the books, a fight broke out between a homeless dude and a crazy lady. At that point, I left as fast as I could.

I think I realized the importance of our public library system when, at the tender age of 12, a book cum research report about Huckleberry Finn and Mr. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (who’s better known as Mark Twain, his nom de plume) was thrust upon me in a fit of elementary school «educational initiative» by my 6^th grade teacher (I am prowd to say that I am a product of L. A’s public skule system).
My mom, Buddha bless her soul, dropped me off at 1 pm on a delightful Sunday afternoon in front of our public branch:
«Be back in three hours dear, try to get your work done instead of finding things to set on fire.»
(Whaaa? Huhhh? Library/​paper/​fire?)
«Haha, SURELY you jest, mumsy. Perish the thought. Ta ta!»
With that, she took off for parts unknown.
There I was – the sun was shining, the birds were singing, there was music in the air (from the speakers of the car wash next to the library) and the library was… closed!!!
So began my career in creative writing (at least non-​professionally). I wrote down what I could remember from the discussions we had in class and the scribbles I called notes that I took between the spit ball wars and wet willy contests, and basically pieced together a biography of Mark Twain and Huck that would have made Widow Douglas and Aunt Polly weep.
Of course, I had to return to the library to actually confirm the details of Mark Twain’s life (and to fact check – did you know Twain was NOT an alien sent to our planet to reprogram our youth through his writings of fiction? FASCINATING), but it all turned out well in the end.
What did I learn?
1. The public library system is an incredible resource to everyone – where else are you going be able to order books and then have it delivered to your local branch for pick-​up. I recommend using
, which was not yet in existence when I wrote my paper as the wondrous age of electricity was just upon us.
2. The resources are free to the public.
3. Check the hours of your local branch before you decide to go visit, unless the assignment calls for significant amounts of creative writing.
4. I am still traumatized from the experience of being «abandoned» at the doorsteps of the library.
FYI, there are many branches with free Hot Spots – as in wireless, not singles pick-​up location. I haven’t experienced the hot spot (the wireless aspect) at this branch a lot, but the few times I did it seemed to work nicely.