Grande Bibliothèque de BAnQ — Attraction in Montreal

Great place and very accessible! However, there are 3 elevators, mostly used by lazy people, in practically constant use, making constant noise in most of the library (they had the ingenuity of putting them in the centre of the library), making reading quietly impossible in most of the library, really defeating a main purpose of a library. Either listen to music or walk far away from the elevators. They have many chairs and desk available -- you can still hear the noise, but it's less loud. The constant noise of the elevators is really a turn off for me, though. Why are people so lazy?? And why do they need THREE elevators, one somewhere discrete would've been well enough! And the door rings twice each time it opens, for even more noise! Because of this, I don't go study at this library, except when other, more quiet libraries are closed (like during the summer).

Grande Bibliothèque maintains its long hours throughout the year. But, it is closed on Mondays (why??). Another annoyance: they make a global announcement about the children's place closing (why not just make the announcement there instead of throughout the whole library?).

Also, on their online database, if it says a book is available, don't count on that, especially if it's a popular book! Books that not at their location (lost) are marked as available! So don't go expecting your book will be there!

Incredible architecture, and beautiful place, but with serious...

Beautiful library, lots of lighting, beautiful architecture, huge selection of items. You can even borrow blu-ray movies, DVD, games and they have a decent collection! You can borrow items for 21 days at a time and take out 10 I think in each category, 40 items in total which is a lot. There is also a music listening room with vinyls, I think you can borrow items there as well.

Tables all over but it gets rather busy so I'd suggest arriving around 9-10am. Comfortable desks too, has a slight angle to it and slight angle footrest too at the base. Airy and light, though can be noisy depending where you sit so bring some headphones. Bright and inspiring.

People come here to study, play board games (there are puzzles and board games you can borrow). There are some homeless people that do come in sometimes seeking shelter, sometimes they can be a little disruptive with smell and being loud.

Staff here is super nice, I think they are well treated as employees at least I hope so because it shows with how kind they are and seem to really enjoy their job.

My only complaint is the HOLD system can be quite slow, after placing a hold on an item that is available, it can take up to 5 business days for you to get a notification that it’s ready. One other time, by the time I went to the library I just found it on the shelf still available and checked it out, I think because I placed it on hold I was...

Great place to study and get work done! Clean, modern, with decent wifi and lots of seating and outlets. The catalogue is enormous in French and pretty good in English. It can get a little crowded but there are usually plenty of free seats before noon.

The only downsides with this place are:

1. Closed on Mondays. Kind of inconvenient for students, freelancers and remote workers who want to give themselves a standard workweek in a reliable location. It's busy enough on the days it's open, after all.

2. There are a lot of drug addicts, homeless and mentally ill hanging around, which can get distracting and brings up questions of hygiene and theft. I’ve witnessed more than one violent, shouty outburst and just the other day I saw a crusty old guy with his shirt off doing self-grooming in one of the chairs. I’m not sure what the solution is, but I am sure a library should be peaceful and safe.

3. The centrally-located elevators are in constant use and ding loudly every time the doors open. I assume this is to help the visually impaired, but a quieter signal would probably work just as well. In many areas it's hard to concentrate...