Cardiff Central Library — Attraction in Cathays

Sadly the library has been ruined due to the council turning the second floor into the council's housing service. It is an essential service but it does not belong in the library. It creates the wrong atmosphere - often there will be dispossessed people, really sadly dishevelled and with bags etc up in the reading areas; and there might be someone shouting occasionally. It's horrible. How does Cardiff council hope to nurture the minds of its next generations if it insists on dragging them even in a library down into the depressing and worrying side of life? The council has carved away at the people's right to a dedicated space for mental and even spiritual development. What is more, it's taken this service away from the least privileged - ie those who don't have rooms at home where they can go to study in peace. Retired people too will not feel comfortable coming in and working on their projects any longer. It is a great loss. And, it is shameful: those in charge of these changes would likely have had grants (not loans) for their education, and they would have had the original library, which was a beautiful quiet temple of learning full of buzzing minds, young and old, thrilling to learn, to create, to grow. Honestly, how can you be at your best when you have to walk through a housing office? The desecration of the library with this change is wrong on so many levels. Forget a city of culture, the place can barely be considered to have the status of a true...

Shuts down for long periods. CDs have disappeared to god knows where. Regularly go in to get books and CDs that are advertized as being there but aren't. Even when I tell them (the staff) of stock being advertized as there when it isn't, they do nothing to remove the item from the website catalogue, so they are obviously completely indifferent to wasting people's time, such as people like myself who travel miles to come into the library only to find that what I want isn't there, something which has happened numerous times in the past year. They spend all this time and money on making the place look flash, but nothing can cover up just how poorly run it is. As for shutting it down for long periods of time, it's a library for pity's sake, all that matters is that people get access to the stock. Oh, but no, they shut it down just to build a section for teenagers who, given the racket they make, the library should be trying to turn away, not building a section for them specifically that'll attract more and more noisy people. Why not just turn it into a night-club and burn all the stock? I wonder what next? Maybe they'll shut down for a year in order to build new high-tech toilets. Or maybe they'll install speakers blaring out the latest piece of sensory-rape that in our time...

Wide, spacious, easy to find and navigate (inside of it) building. We are three adults (one with mobility difficulties) and this was a good place to have a rest while exploring the city centre. There is a (radar key operated) disability toilet available on the ground floor that is 100% restriction free to access. There are also ladies/gents toilets nearby the disabled toilet. The building allows access to all floors, even if you are not a member. The range of books, from what we saw just browsing through the isles is good, though not amazing. The shelves are not floor to ceiling high, but more chest level, which was surprising for us, as this way there is a lost of space that could be filled with books. Architectural design choice, we suppose, because it was all the same across all floors and all sections of the library. There are nice (though not amazing) views from the top floor and it's fairly quiet, allowing for a respite from the hustle and bustle of the city outside. There is an interesting sculpture right outside the library, which is noteworthy as well: a lot of children try to climb it! Overall, a good escape, but not an essential stop for visitors...