Albany Library — Attraction in Albany

This local library is chock-full of everything one wants in a library -- books, music, videos, computer time and knowledgeable staff. It isn't just a branch library, it's Albany's library, although it is quite nice to have a connection to the Alameda County Library's system, too. And if what you want isn't listed there, be sure to look up your title in Link+, a resource like the old "interlibrary loan," whereby regional libraries hook together to give local clients the materials they want.

I think it is good to keep in mind that a library is a lot more than a reading room these days. It is a place where kids can gather to research materials and to study, for adults to use free computer services and for everyone to find a wide variety of things to read, watch and listen to. Is it noisy? Well, yes. You will need to look elsewhere for...

Please change the lady that does the toddler storytime, is SO boring we can barely listen to her, she doesn’t know the songs, she doesn’t have the tiniest park to do a toddler storytime. It used to be so fun to bring my toddler here and now everyone just takes a deep breath when we see her at the storytime because is so tedious. They used to have another lady that did it and it was great. Please hire someone new for this task because at this point people just rather to stop going to storytime. Besides she keeps telling CHILDREN to be quiet while she reads, they are toddlers between 1-3 years old if they’re not engaged of course they’ll be loud or focusing on...

I don’t really like this library, especially for kids. They have movies, plus two computers at kid-level, before the kids even reach the books. You need to put in your library card number to access the catalog and find book titles, which is not just a pain but feels exclusionary. Lastly, the books are organized in an unintuitive way (at least for me) and a lot the book options feel like they are marketing toys and movies to kids - e.g. LEGOS, DC comics, Nickelodeon, Barbie, etc. It’s better than nothing but near the bottom of the Children’s libraries we...