Normal Public Library — Attraction in Normal

A dump, and despite recent renovations that added more office space for the staff, the library has added no new user spaces, and no dedicated study rooms; if one wants to get an earful of people chatting and laughing and talking, then this is the place--the noisiest library I have ever been to in the dozen or so times I have been here. The building is aged, which cannot be changed--but the tables and chairs being filthy with grease (take a wet nap and wipe any table and you will gag!) and human sneezes is completely unacceptable. Add in a grotesque lack of electrical outlets for laptop users, which is everyone these days, and the library is a true shame. The childrens' section upstairs is nothing to write home about.

The B-N area is aching for a decent library, as even ISU has no good library--Milner is overused and underfunded. One gander at the fantastic libraries in other counties, like Champaign county, that are open to the general public--at the University of Illinois, small towns like Mahomet, IL, Urbana Free Library, and the Champaign Public Library--will show that the white-collar, educated community of McLean county truly needs to step up its game in modern, not-only-books community spaces. McLean county libraries...

This library will close for literally anything, I don't understand how that's even allowed by something funded by our taxes. They're closing early the day before Thanksgiving, then closed Thanksgiving and the day after. Thanksgiving makes sense, but the day after? They do that with the other holidays too, big or small. Not to mention about a year ago they started closing an hour earlier. They even closed a few months ago for a day or so because of the death of a spouse of someone that USED to work there... it's a joke at this point. If you work a regular 9-5 their constant random closings and limited hours makes it hard to actually use the library. Also, I don't understand how they had the funds to completely renovate the bathrooms to make them both all gender (which I don't have an issue with at all for the record), but they say they don't have the money to update the self-checkout kiosks? They're so slow and half the time don't even work, and you can't just type in your card number like you can at BPL, you have to have your card with you to use it. Priorities seem to be misplaced at this...

Me and my family have been going to NPL for many years now. We started going when my kids were toddlers and I just went today with my now teenage child. Whether it was the children's area as a young child or now the young adult/teen section, my kids love the library. Friendly, kind, and helpful employees who were even understanding when we had overdue books. The curbside pick up service during the pandemic was an excellent service for the community. NPL is a great place for kids, teens and adults. My teenager wanted to stay and read after checking out books today because of the...