This is a fairly large facility with a nice childrens area downstairs. However, our kids are older now, and the books we need are upstairs. The selection here is great, but, unfortunately, this library has become more of a hang-out for addicts and the indigent than anything else. There are usually a dozen or so regulars who sleep in the chairs, or hang out and talk inside the library and outside. Most of them smell terrible, and leave that smell on the chairs. Some have chronic coughs.
We've had to listen to rap music playing from across the room, men shouting out ""Mother F*#@"" when talking to each other, or men and women arguing loudly in the parking lot. We've gone into the bathroom and seen women dying others' hair in the sinks, leaving dye and water all over the counters and floors. One woman had turned the area inside and outside the bathroom into her personal salon. THe bathroom was a mess, and in a corner was a stack of flyers for makeovers and hairdo's, with a phone number. We assumed it was the woman with freshly dyed and still wet hair sitting at a large round table near the bathroom. She and her friends had covered the table with multiple containers of very used-looking eyeshadows, bottles of foundation, and other makeup.
There is one man on the staff -at the reference desk- who is not afraid to ask people to turn down their music, stop talking, get off the phone, etc...but he is the only one. We asked another man at the checkout once when there was music coming at us from three directions. He just said ""it's hard...everyone has music and cellphones"". He never did anything, but about 20 minutes later, the reference guy arrived and went around asking them all to turn down their music.
The parking lot is another issue. We've never been harassed in the parking lot, but there are so many people arguing around their cars, or sitting in their cars when we go in, who're still there when we come out as much as 2 or 3 hours later. We've decided that,even though our kids are teens, they can never go there without an older adult.
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