Surry Hills Library — Local services in Sydney

I am not sure when libraries - traditionally intended as a silent zone for study, reading and learning - in the CoS area became lively childcare centres where children run around making noise while parents flick through magazines. The staff are completely disinterested in polite requests regarding the large volumes of extremely noisy children and their parents (who seem uninterested in teaching their children that they shouldn't talk in the library). There are many different local places children and their parents can go to make noise, but really only the library for residents who need a quiet place to research, read and study. Many residents in Surry Hills and other inner city areas live in very small flats that have no study spaces, so the library is their only option for study. This is only an issue at City of Sydney libraries. Council librarians in North and Western Sydney seem to have their facilities under control, and children (present in large numbers) don't make any noise. I think it would be greatly appreciated by nearly all patrons if librarians enforced the traditional "silence in the library" rule. I was not surprised to see the children noise issue raised by many other Google Reviewers.

Also - there are only two public toilets for all patrons, yet two private toilets for the small number of staff. Surely this should be changed to three toilets for patrons, and one for staff, given the vast disparity in numbers between...

I love public libraries, but have been here a few times and not had good experiences. Today, I've stopped in to do something as basic as checking and responding to some emails, but the internet here doesn't seem to be able to handle that. I have other places that I can go to access wi-fi, but am mindful that others may rely on the library for that.

I've previously come here to borrow some books. After pretty much every book I searched for not being in stock, I finally went to borrow one at the self-checkout. Asked for help from the librarian after one of the books wouldn't scan. She seemed pretty adamant on not actually looking at the book and insisted (quite rudely) that I was scanning it incorrectly. Finally, she looked at the book and the barcode was actually missing.

I really feel like a library in Sydney inner-city can step up their game. I realise that some issues may come down to funding and resources, but that others are down to attitude and enthusiasm (or lack of it), which is...

I grew up in Surry Hills and the library but it wasn't until recently when i started needing a place to study that i noticed how terrible this place is. There are really only two main places to sit the front of the library on the main floor and near the staircase on the second floor these two dedicated places only sit about 14-18 people in total! It's impossible to find a place to sit most of the time and even if you do find a place to sit there are about four people or wandering around at all time looking to snatch up a seat when it becomes free. The staff are highly uninterested and couldn't even muster up a welcoming smile, for such a big place they haven't used their space to the best of their ability. Even if there were a few more chairs that would help but clearly this librarys interests aren't in a good...