Redwood City Public Library

Growing up, I spent a lot of time in public libraries, and I’m constantly amazed by how much they have adapted to the times with technology and new needs. This main branch of the RWC libraries is no exception.
LOCATION
Conveniently located in the heart of downtown right next to the RWC Caltrain stop. There are a ton of restaurants and shops around. Both street parking and lot parking are available. Lot parking is $ 1/​hour from 10am-​6pm.
CHECKOUT/​RETURNS
Everything is self-​checkout. Chips are in all the materials so you can just set it on top of the scanner spot and it will automatically be able to tell you what you’re checking out. No more individually scanning each book’s barcode!
The book return drop is really neat. You put your item in the slot and you can watch on camera as it gets to the back room and automatically sorted into the right bucket. Kind of a neat way to expose technology and pretty fun for kids (and adults) to watch!
ONLINE OFFERINGS
Like most libraries nowadays, you can checkout and put holds on books online. But you can also apply for a library card, get a temp card number, and start putting books on hold all before even having to step foot in the library! Also, there is a pretty extensive selection of e-​books ready to get synced to your Kindle/​reading device.
FACILITIES
The library feels pretty spacious.
Floor one has the children’s section, non-​fiction, fiction, magazines, and lots of open table space. There is also a large computer lab that was really quiet when I visited. The only area that was kind of loud was the children’s section and that was probably because they were having an event.
Floor two is an entire space dedicated to teens. There’s teen lit, manga, college prep books, and even a rec room where you can play video games on a large TV. Seems like a pretty awesome place for teenagers to hang out.
Floor three is an event space.
There are conference/​study rooms on both floors one and two. I believe you need a reservation to use them though.
EVENTS
There are a ton of events held at the library. For adults, there are computer classes, knitting groups, job search clubs, etc. There are also some unique offerings I haven’t seen at other libraries before like a Food Preservation 101 (canning, preserving, pickling) class.

All communities need a great flagship public lending library, but few places are as lucky as Redwood City. The main branch of the San Mateo County library system is a solidly built edifice that was formerly the city’s Fire Station No. 1. It occupies absolutely prime real estate next to the city hall and the historic main street district. It’s within easy walking distance to CalTrans rail connections, to El Camino Real, and to hospitals, parks, coffee shops, bars, bistros, banks, court houses — the works.
Inside, there are rows of shelves with music CDs, films on DVD, and books, magazines, and children’s creative play and reading areas all over. There are fast wifi connections and many PC workstations, including separate study areas and reading rooms aplenty.
Checkouts are easy to use, self-​serve scanning stations, and there are capable staff around to assist with finding books, getting library cards, checking out and returning items, and helping make this place hum with creative activity. It’s quiet, as one might expect, but the children’s area — huge — bubbles with laughter and out-​loud reading, and the size of the interior makes it possible to be as introverted or extroverted as you want. It’s all a matter of seeking out the spaces that appeal to you at the time of your visit.
I like to use the library as a place to read and relax while having work done on vehicles or while waiting for appointments or friends. I prefer branch libraries closer to home in Woodside and Portola Valley for weekly library needs, but there is something special about checking out this main branch. It’s a flagship 5-​star library for a reason; without it, it would be hard to love Redwood City as a place where all sorts of people can feel at home. You can’t have an authentic urban renaissance without public spaces like this. See what you think! Maybe you’ll rediscover an unmet need for shared media (books, music, films) that you thought you had lost when you left your childhood and schooling years behind. Strolling the shelves is a lot more fun than surfing the web. Some things just can’t be replaced with a digital equivalent. Brick-​and-​mortar libraries are one of them!

Eeeeeh, it’s a little loud, it’s 6:02 pm right now. Kids running around everywhere. It’s sort of a public library most rooms you need to be in a program to enter in. It’s also really small inside. It’s okay

I spent a lot of time here as a child and now some more as a college student. Lost my laptop charger and desperately needed a computer to do some homework so I headed to the library.
I love the history of the building and the bookstore in the lobby.
the children’s area is adorable.
the «quiet» computer lab is not quiet. today some guy was playing a slot machine game that meowed after each spin… that was fun while I tried to do math homework.
sometimes it’s hard to find a table because there are multiple tables with one person and all their belongings.
Overall, pretty library that is worth it for the children’s section and use for the computer lab in a pinch.

DONT COME HERE! OK. Who voted this place as Best Library in the US? You must be kidding me –_​-​. OKay they have lots of great book selection and great resources for kids but thats standard stuff
Since I work remotely, I was looking for a great spot to work on my laptop where I don’t have to buy coffee– so I opted for the library. I came here twice at 9 am and later around 3 pm. The first time, I sat around the quiet section and this older men start sitting in front of me and slept on the table. I’ve looked around other seats by the wall and turns out there are alot of people sleeping here that may have been homeless. The second time, I came and decided to sit in the main area to avoid any unpleasant experiences. I sat and this lady came sitting on the table next to me by the magazines area. She sat down for 5 – 10 mins didn’t read the book and started yelling «UGHHH SO STONED». Minutes later an elderly man came in from the main door and started rambling.
I went to the female bathroom and there were splashes of water on the floor. The lights are dimmed and I feel like I was at a horror movie.
Not to hate on homeless people, I also feel bad for them and would love if I can help… and I know its a Library and yada yada yada but dudeee we live in the community where houses are $ 800,000 at lowest can some tech companies help financially maintain LOL
1 Star for WIFI + Sources for kids

Love this library. The staff are super friendly and they have a good book selection. On any given afternoon, the kids section is filled with kids of all ages. It’s a great place to come even if you just want to keep your kid entertained for a little bit.

Great library, lots of books to choose from. Friendly helpful staff. I love this place and could spend hours here!

3.5 stars, really. From the outside it would seem like it would be a larger library, but it’s actually really small inside. It’s ain’t no TARDIS. I think it has something to do with the fact that it used to be an old fire station so there wasn’t that much room to begin with. Since it’s a rehab of an old building, it also makes the layout a little awkward. Relative to Belmont, Burlingame, or San Mateo the shelves here just feels really cramped. There’s also not as many sitting areas as those other libraries. But books are awesome so you can’t deny that. Just wished this place had more to offer.

Awesome children’s area! There are restrooms for little boys and girls in this area. Noise level is «normal voice» in this area which is great if you have a toddler you don’t have to telling your child to use their «indoor voice»

No! I should not have to pay for parking when visiting a library.

Wow,
I’ve enjoyed using this library for quite awhile, but lately, some of the staff are so unhelpful and the library patrons are allowed to be noisy and disruptive.
Most recent, I was using the copier, made a color copy and the finished product didn’t come out. I went and asked an older, short, frumpy woman who was at the front computers. She right off said the display wasn’t showing I had put any money in. I explained again, that it went through the whole printing process, but the paper didn’t come out. She said she didn’t know how to open and get the paper out, so proceeded to print another copy on the other machine, repeating how it wasn’t showing I had paid the 50cents and suggesting I had done something wrong. She only did a black and white copy even though I said I paid for a color. The way she behaved, one would think I had stolen a million from the library so she was only willing to do a 15cent black and white.
Luckily, another employee walked by and she asked if he knew how to open the other machine. He quickly opened the side door and said, «yea the copies get stuck in this machine a lot,» and pulled the COLOR copy I had paid for that the rude librarian kept going on suggesting I was cheating the library. No apology from the rude #*@!!.
It was ridiculous.
Also, too many of the librarians no longer stop kids running through or horsing around in the adult section, or quieting the adult patrons playing their music or talking loudly. It just doesn’t make for enjoyable reading anymore.
I gave 2 stars because there are some librarians that are still very helpful and friendly.

Great library. Staff are friendly and they have selections that are often unavailable at other San Mateo public libraries. I checked out Our Kids by Robert Putnam yesterday and it was difficult to find at the other places!
Will definitely come back.

This library is conveniently close to home, and I tend to go here when I need to do some major studying (basically, cramming last minute for exams which is a very bad habit). They have study cubes in the back behind the bookshelves on the first floor. It’s darkly lit but there’s a lot of plugs and separators so you don’t see your neighbors. I used to study here but then it became a place for people to sleep and snore and eat their food obnoxiously loud. So then I started studying in the «quiet area» which is on the far left side of the library and is in a nice open area with plenty of sunshine coming through the windows. It’s good 70% of the time. There are a few tables next to the wall for plugs and a few other tables that are in the middle of the room with no plugs. People seem to misunderstand «quiet area» for «quiet area to take phone calls», «quiet area to study loudly with your study group», or «quiet area to lay on the ground and sleep». Maybe I misunderstand «quiet area» for «quiet area to study independently with no noise». I don’t know. I can’t complain too much though since it’s a public library. The bathrooms are always clean and it’s conveniently close to all the eateries in downtown Redwood City.

Nice library, attractive and clean. A-​OK is about right to me.
The outside is cool – it’s the old fire station. But inside, the layout feels a little strange, so perhaps that’s why it’s not one of my favorites in the area. Also, it’s a rare occasion that I see a librarian or paraprofessional staff member.
My favorite part of the library is the Local History Room. I made use of this while I was conducting my research for a paper while I was earning my MLIS, and that was pretty cool. Tons of old newspapers, as well as other historical documents (maps, photos, city records, etc.) The person staffing this room was very helpful when I went in – I think you kind of have to love this stuff to work in a room like this, and do it well. Only problem about the room is, it’s very rarely open – Monday through Thursday, 1 – 4 only – so if you work «normal» hours during the week, you’re out of luck. Hence I was grateful that the staffer didn’t *rush* me out of the room (though I was respectful of the official close time)… he wasn’t like, «It’s 3:59, get out.»
They did have a nice Teen Lounge and teen study library area, which was kind of a cool feature. They also have a very large children’s section. If those things appeal to you, then you’ll probably find this library more interesting than I do.

Ok… My faithful followers know I am coming to terms with the fact that I am a nerd and part of my 12 step process is admitting I visit a lot of friggin libraries. Especially now that I am unemployed and can only handle a few coffees a day, I frequent the libraries all over the place. This one is particularly nice with cozy nooks, non-​militant staff and a wide variety of reading materials. I will say their music selection is severely lacking though.
The teen section is particularly good and has restaurant style booths and an art vending machine in the corner. I impulse bought two piece of art from the machine and found a cozy little table out front to work. The tables are large, have little lamps and power outlets on the lamps. I found it not to be crowded and the «screaming baby» section was separate from the «reading like a normal human
section
The part that is above and beyond other libraries is the fact that they are open until 9pm a few nights a week and have a well stocked and reasonably priced book store area. As a side note, the WiFi remains on after closing so if you need to shoot off one last email before driving home you can do so from the warmth of your car like a creepy pants.

Aside from looking nice, I am not a fan of this place.
I see from the reviews that people mention there are study rooms. Chances are, you won’t get one without practically pulling teeth from the library staff. I was here about 3 times to conduct some interviews and every time I came, there would not be a room available, or the rooms were condoned off for Project Read. The staff will tell you that you may use the community room downstairs, and you will find some bearded dude with glasses on his Apple laptop and big headphones EVERY DAY, on the left side of the room. And he’s often the only person there squandering the entire table with half his stuff. There doesn’t seem to be a time limit on the study rooms (which, btw, are probably cleaned once a month) and there’s a lot of squatters. You may not reserve rooms as they are first come first serve.
All this would be fine if the library was quiet as one would imagine, or had some areas for low-​volume talk. But to the contrary, this place is a complete zoo. The «zoo» is not even confined to the children’s section, where I’ve seen kids playing tag and screaming and bouncing off signs and structures in the room (fyi, this place is adjacent to a real park with real open spaces for running and other active events). There is also a lot of teenage loudness on the second floor near the vending machines and study rooms — while I appreciate the heavy effort on part of this library to host education-​related programming for teenagers, the library is definitely chaotic or dead silent in other parts, so not recommended for group work or meetings.
Lastly, heads up – $ 0.25 for every 15 minutes to park here. Traffic to the right of this library is horrendous — the intersections are backed up and there is a lot of commercial traffic as well. To be fair, there is at least the availability of two lots for your convenience in this hectic area.

The library wifi doesn’t work for my laptop and iPad which sucks because all my study materials are online.
Other than the bad internet It’s a pretty nice library.

Being that I live in Redwood City, this is the main library I frequent for books. I have had a love for books since I was a kid so of course I get a little giddy when I come here. I almost always find the books I’m searching for here but I usually go online beforehand so that I’m not disappointed. I love the fact that you can hold books for pick-​up without a charge. The self-​serve check-​out system is simple and convenient too.
Tip: if you forget your card at home you can ask the library staff to look up your account… just make sure you have ID in hand.

They have an espresso vending machine. Cool!
But when you press the button, you get nothing. at. all. that’s because the espresso leaks out under the machine onto the pavement:

Former firestation.
Love’t here. It’s a very community oriented library. They all are. Lotsa tutoring and story times. Summer reading programs. Upstairs teen center which was genius cuz during the school year all those annoying kids from Sequoia high come in w their foul mouths, loud, and obnoxious behavior just to waste away on their unintellectual internet interests.
Right next to local businesses to help entertain you after so much time spent in a reading environment.
Decent music and dvd selections which save $ on renting or streaming them.
Love the used book store. Always find fun cookbooks and random dvd movies for my collection.
Love the outdoor seating and convenient drive through drop off.
Love that they save $ and resources by replacing the paper towel dispensers w air dryers. Homeless people love libraries and between them and the rest of the sloppy careless people, there’d be paper towels all over the place.