Baltimore County Public Library - Catonsville Branch — Attraction in Catonsville

This remodel is the biggest disappointment. While there are new floors, carpets, and shelving, the sheer number of incomplete, empty, and "not yet available" things is staggering. To start, the children's area is mostly empty, devoid of toys and other learning materials that allow children to express their creativity. Instead, the main children's are has a couple of round tables, a few chairs, a kids toy house in the middle of the service area, and a few old and dirty toys. That's it. For a community with over 9,000 children ages 9 and under. There's no enclosed place for kids. No new learning environments. How does Arbutus, which was last remodeled over a decade ago have a better kids play and learning area than Catonsville which was remodeled just last year?

Moreover, because there isn’t a dedicated kid space, the library as a whole is very loud. This can also be seen because their main floor has no quiet places for work or study. People are meeting all over the main floor, playing games, or even singing to themselves with headphones on. Mix this in with an open space kids area, and again, this library can be prohibitively loud especially if you are neurodivergent and can be overwhelmed with loud sounds.

The other frustrating thing is that staff aren't around to help. There's one person at the desk. That's it. If there's a line of 3 people, they say they can't call for back up unless it gets longer. If you ask a person shelving books, they can't help either saying it's BCPL policy that two people can't help someone at the desk. I don’t blame them, the staff are generally friendly. But this new BCPL policy is anti customer.

Lastly, there’s no check out machines near the exit. Again, it’s anti customer. They want you to either be a weirdo and go into the kids area or walk all the way over past the check out stands so that (I assume) you’ll want to check out more content, which is likewise not customer focused.

So...

This has been my library for many years. The renovation is very nice, creative, clean and bright. The history room in the basement is interesting and worth a visit. Although they don't have a large number of books on the shelves, placing holds and picking up will usually get you what you want. Don't forget you also get access to the digital libraries online, as well.

The library in general is no longer a quiet space, and hasn't been for years. That cultural shift is definitely felt at this location. The library is aiming to become more a welcoming community third space than a loaner of books. My evidence for this claim is as follows: shrinking in-house book selection, areas set up to encourage loud playful behaviors (life size chess set), neurodivergent adult singing loudly with headphones on at open computer area, an in-house music recording studio, unsupervised children running laps in the adult book section and generally treating the library like an outdoor playground, people in the "quiet area" having phone conversations with their phones on speaker, and lastly, people asleep in the back meeting room with the lights off during operational evening hours. These are my personal experiences from about 4 visits to this library over the last 2 months. I dropped my daughter off here to study but unfortunately it was a loud, disruptive environment. This is more a progressive community space than the quiet library...

The Catonsville Library is located in the central part of Catonsville and is not only convenient, it has recently undergone a massive rehab. The building was closed for 18 months and updated throughout. The library now is bright and fresh and offers spaces for all members of the community. There are a ton of computers to use and work spaces where you can bring in your own PC, there is a special room dedicated to teens and there is the entire wing for the smaller children with story time spaces and bright colors and educational activities. Downstairs they have conference and presentation rooms and media rooms- Want to start a podcast? Check out this space. Also there is the Catonsville History room that is filled with great artifacts and historical photos of Catonsville. It really is a space...