Austin Central Library, Austin Public Library — Attraction in Austin

First time visiting this library & our last, certainly not for us, maybe coming on a Saturday was not a good idea but I don’t get Saturday’s off. The parking lot underground was very confusing, & when I asked the employee with the ponytail who had no name tag, his response was "IF YOU READ THE SIGN", which I told him was confusing seeing that cars were circling around in a narrow two-way space, causing traffic & blockage, also I wasn't driving so I was not able to see the sign to the left of the drivers side, my husband was and it was confusing, not only to use but for others as well who were in front of us, but nonetheless I thought that this employee was really rude and disrespectful and quite nasty with his body demeanor, how he looked at us and answered the question. First impression was not good, he shouldn’t be working customer service if he has an attitude problem answering simple questions that people from out of town have. Hopefully with all the taxes being collected, and nickel and diming for parking and the store, the signs would be more understandable and readable for all. I find it more than stupid to have to charge for parking and having traffic just waiting to exit with a long line of cars, we were still attended by the same person a little over an hour so we unfortunately have to pay the $5, he just pulled a $5 change out of his back pocket, still with a nasty attitude, horrible person really, seemed pissed at his job, we found it shady to have done that, it wasn’t anything formal and we were not even a receipt which I found very also shady and almost illegal not to have documentation, receipts or proof, he just put the $10 in his pocket. Never saying thank you, have a nice day, again, nasty employee. This place was jam-packed with barely any place to sit without some sort of noise, especially in the outdoor garden where we couldn't really enjoy. Wanted to explore and walk, but didn't really feel welcomed, a lady in the 3D department “the petting zoo”, which it's another ridiculous name it's called a petting zoo where you actually pet a zoo, but anyways a lady kind of looked at us and saw that maybe we look different and said if we need anything a couple of times, almost following us and we had to say no and eventually leave because we felt her eyes on us the entire time.Wow the APL store shop was extremely overpriced, I don't know how they can charge those ridiculous prices, even a bookmark was $6, it was ridiculous. Looking for the cafeteria/café/restaurant because there were signs everywhere, only to be told by a maintenance worker that it's no longer available, well geez please take out the signs if it's no longer there, so people aren’t looking for it, it's stupid to keep them up. I’m sure with all the newest technology, charging for parking and taxes collected, it shouldn’t be a problem. My husband winded up going to one of the bathrooms in the kids’ room and said it was so filthy disgusting. It made me not even bother to enter any of the bathrooms for fear of catching something. We thought it was pretty and had many useful things, but I'm sure as non-residents, we wouldn't qualify anyways, but wanted to ask questions and visit libraries as that is one of the things we like to do when visiting many different states, is visit different libraries. I don't know maybe is people from Austin, Texas, in general, why do people have attitude problems, or bad social skills, or just the basic ethics or manners. This library didn't make us feel welcomed, charging for parking and overcharging in their little store which probably scares a lot of people away into buying something because most people can't afford it, our experience here was left pretty sour and we hope never to return here again, for the people who love it great for them, but nothing special here. Other libraries are more welcoming than this one, where parking is for free and you don’t have a nasty parking lot attendant treating less than garbage because he feels smarter, special or above everyone else. PHOTOS COULD...

Clearly the most Amazing Public Library in the Country! It's like an amusement park and there's no way to capture all of it's magic in just one day. Not just a library, but an Adventure!

With that being said; as a budding artist, musician, and poet; I found my nitch here on the 5th floor at the Innovation Lab. This spot in the library is chauck full of board games, high end Mac and Dell computers, a V.R. Experience, 3D Printers, and a sound Lab for recording, mastering, and producing, professional grade media content. What a gift to this beautiful Community....

Except:

When you visit the Innovation Lab you are treated by unskilled and untrained employees who seem to go out of their way to stifle any sort of creativity.

The real problem is the employees lack of training, skill, and ability. Instead of stepping up they make excuses or just point blank run people off. 90% of the time, the Innovation Lab is empty of human unless there is a special event at the library itself, or an outside group uses the lab space to highlite their skills and activities with Legos, art classes, or feature an Indy film.

I've been visiting the lab for almost 6months now on a regular basis. In that time, I've seen no improvement with what this place has to offer, other then the outside activities that they rent the space out for.

It's clear that a management change is in order. I would venture to say that "Will", the current manager has no idea how to use 3/4's of the equipment in this space and has no desire to learn. Hince, why his employees have no clue how to use the gear.

The failure of this space is a tradidy to the community really. $100's of Thousands of dollars have gone into creating this space only for it all to sit there unused and/or miss-used.

Some had a great idea 💡 here, with this Innovation Lab. Problem is they put the wrong people in charge.

The good news is that several key people from other States and other Communities have visited this lab and they intend to go back to where they came from and start their own.

Maybe one of them will get this epic concept off the ground...

Unfortunately for Austin Residents the Innovation Lab on the 5th Floor of the Austin Central Library is like the Titanic.

I won't go...

It is challenging to review this library without sounding like an unsympathetic urbanite. The space is quite beautiful but visitors need to take into account this is probably the most beautiful and expensive homeless shelter in the US. Restrooms are full of cigarette smoke, with people shaving (with razors or with electric clippers) or washing their hair in the sink. And although, for the most part, people are behaving themselves, you need to be prepared for the strong smell of unwashed bodies and bags of clothing and other possessions next to the chairs, sofas, and desks. If you are looking for a quiet place to study, this is not the place. Excited and unsupervised children make a lot of noise in the open spaced configuration and you will always be near someone who thinks it is appropriate to be on a conf call in a public library. Sadly, I have seen library staff walk by these conf calls without stopping them, so I must assume the library is okay with it. Seriously, a coffee shop is probably no louder than this library. I read some poor reviews about the parking garage, but I am a cyclist and can only comment on the lack of safe places to lock your bike. Although there is a very large (must be more than 75 bike capacity) and expensive bike storage facility, to my knowledge it has never been made available for use. The large and convenient set of bike racks near the east entrance were removed because of issues with bike theft that I must assume the on-site security team and cameras could not prevent. Be prepared to park your bike away from the library due to these security concerns. I am not being sarcastic when I state it is nice that the homeless have a place to be and to shelter from bad weather, and that remote workers have a place to be on the phone or have conf calls, but if you want a clean and quiet place to study, this is not the place. Try one of the local...