Budlong Woods Branch – Chicago Public Library

Budlong Woods is a reliable smallish branch, of the same vintage and general design as many of the other late-​90s/​early 00s branch reconstructions (e.g. Rogers Park, Edgebrook). Although these facilities are small, they are such an asset to the neighborhood. For years Sulzer Regional has been my main CPL location, and Sulzer has a very businesslike feel to it. But the smaller branches feel more homey; every time I go into one (usually a weekday evening), I am pleased to see such a cross-​section of the community making use of their services. Especially children. Kudos to those parents for encouraging the kids to visit the library for book borrowing, school projects, responsible computer use, special events, and just hanging out. Love to see that.
Budlong is a good library with nice aesthetics, but they suffer from the too-​frequent CPL problem of showing a book «on the shelf» in the online catalogue but sadly not actually on the shelf. That’s frustrating when you’ve driven a fair distance to get a book right away instead of waiting for the hold process. While I was searching in vain for a novel by Jesse Ball, I noticed five Penguin Classics copies of The Adventures of Augie March. I found this curious for such a small branch, although if a Chicago library were going to be overstocked with any book, it ought to be this one. (In my opinion, Bellow’s masterpiece is one of the best novels of the twentieth century and possibly THE greatest novel of our great city.)
I later looked up Augie March in the online catalogue and was surprised and impressed to find 446 of them in the entire system. There are 11 at nearby and tiny Bezazian, 14 at West Pullman on the south side, 19 at both westside Dunning and northside Lincoln-​Belmont, and Austin-​Irving has a whopping 30! Only three at Harold Washington though. This is a fascinating glimpse into the mysteries of the Chicago Public Library catalog.
Kudos to you, Budlong Woods CPL, for all that you do for the area, not least of which is keeping alive a sweet old-​school Chicago neighborhood name that doesn’t get a lot of exposure as part of the so-​called «Lincoln Square Community Area» [zzzzzz]. (
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This is my neighborhood library and is far better than Sulzer, the regional library, when it comes to my library needs, which is checking out DVDs and being in and out quickly. It’s also quieter.

This library is very nice, I most go there just to drop off and pick up but I always look through what movies they have or check for books and suprisingly lots of things I think would be checked out are right there on the shelf! The staff is friendly and I am very glad tohave such a nice local library.

This is my library.
It’s a pretty nice library.
It’s a thinking library with environmentally sustainable construction.
It’s a library with a spacious community room and frequent activities.
It’s a pretty nice thinking library with a spacious community room, but is filled with OBNOXIOUS kids (heathens) from like 2:45pm-6:30pm!
O-​M-​Geeeeeeeeee. I seriously love this library. I really do, but damn! Sometimes I feel like I’m walking into Kindercare when I get there. I promise you, scout’s honor, I am not exaggerating. *imagine my right hand over my heart*
I don’t know when the library became the «cool» place to hang out at after-​school, and I really don’t like that it has. Libraries have always been my geek sanctuary where I felt guaranteed a fair amount of peace to peruse the stacks, research, or just geek out. The problem here is that these heathens occupy and disturb during the main hours adults most likely have available to visit the library. Bollocks!
Despite the size of this branch, they have a pretty good selection of contemporary fiction, along with a fairly decent non-​fiction section as well. The variety of cookbooks is wonderful and they aren’t all dated like a lot of other libraries. As for contemporary fiction, I’ve seen an installment of a book series appear on their shelves within a few weeks of its release. The head librarian is fair about any misunderstandings and the wi-​fi there is a good speed. It’s just the boisterous heathens that can decimate your pleasant library sojourn.
Don’t get me wrong. If they were actually doing something like say.. . homework, or even touched at least ONE book while they’re there, I wouldn’t complain. It’s tweens & teens social parlour and often times there’s the rather unruly bunch too. It’s not fair! You don’t have to go home, but can you get the hell outta here?! Maybe if I speak their native dialect, «?4U Can U plz gtfo? BSF stfu, kthxbai!»

I easily prefer going to this branch over the 2 library branches near me (Edgewater and Bezazian). It’s much roomier than the medium-​sized Edgewater, and small-​as-​heck Bezazian branch. It’s very spacious, and I like the staff at this one.
The only negative about this branch that I can think of, is that the parking lot is usually full (or very close to being full), whenever I go here. So if you’re driving here, I highly recommend parking on Lincoln or Bryn Mawr, instead (it’s always what I do, instead of bothering with the small parking lot this library has). I’m still perplexed as to why the CPL always builds very small parking lots, for all their newer branches (i.e. Bucktown/​Wicker Park, Rogers Park, Edgebrook, etc.).
Public transit info (and a small word of caution): It’s served via public transit by the #11 Lincoln bus, and is within blocks of the #93 California/​Dodge bus (via walking east from Bryn Mawr/​California, to here). Only bad thing about those 2 routes (and where my word of caution comes in), is that they stop running early, especially the #11 Lincoln (not to mention the #93 doesn’t run that much later than #11 does), so you may have to occasionally catch the #49B North Western at night. And boo to the CTA, if they ever do decide to eliminate the #93 for good!

Five stars, despite a little noise…
I think the large, open ceiling and use of natural light in this place is what has won me over– that, and the very helpful, friendly staff.
The main areas with tables aren’t very crowded, and there are plentiful jacks, the wireless is easy to connect to and fairly reliable (there was one visit where it wasn’t working, but it’s been okay otherwise), and the wait for a computer reservation is reasonable — I often print documents for my classes via Google docs, rather than using my own ink. CPL gives you 15 pages a day for free– $ 0.15 thereafter, and it’s easy.
You can hear a little chatter at times from the juvenile internet users, the scanner used at the front desk, or the kid’s section, but I find a CD to listen to and get to work, no problem.
The large windows look out on wispy grass planted along the building, there are soothing murals on the walls, and the lighting is adjusted by whispery electric blinds way up near the ceiling, and I find it all soothing enough to warrant the high rating.