Chicago Public Library – Lozano Branch

The reasons I give 3 stars is because the bathrooms are clean and you don’t have to ask for a key and is easier to print than everywhere else. Overall a good place where you can use computers, print and use free wifi, they also have more Spanish books than any other branch. But definitely NOT a place to study! This is a very very loud place and if not for the bookshields I wouldn’t know is a «library». Kids being loud, people listening to music without headphones, I’ve been here enough to say there are some quite moments but they won’t last long, staring by the staff, they speak loud, so how would you expect different from users?
If you have to study or want a quite place go somewhere else. If you don’t need much focus, it’s an acceptable place.

As a Pilsen resident, this is my neighborhood branch of the CPL, and it’s a nice little reading nook. It’s one floor, open layout, certainly not a huge building, but seems perfectly-​sized for the needs of the neighborhood. It appears to be heavily family-​and-​children focused, which isn’t a bad thing, but means grown-​ups like me (in age at least) usually have to make a trip to Harold-​Washington or request an interlibrary loan for a lot of new or recent adult materials and releases. I love the interlibrary loan option, but wish you could request more than 3 items at a time on hold. When I’m #488 in line for a book, I think I should also be able to wait for as many things as I’m willing to wait on. I’ve questioned this policy to CPL before, and was told it has to do with circulation numbers, but I still hold out for the day I can ask to borrow everything! The museum passes also only seem to be available for children to check out, which is a shame for others as well.
Overall, it’s a good neighborhood spot, bustling with kids doing homework and chatter. During Halloween, this branch displayed a large Day of the Dead alter, referencing the neighborhood culture. There are tables where you can sit and read, a few shelves of DVDs you can borrow, an aisle of magazines, and even a CyberNavigator available at certain times to help people with technology-​related issues. I worked with a CyberNavigator here to help me figure out how to browse the CPL e-​book catalog and check out books electronically downloaded to my Kindle. I think they recently got rid of their CDs (or moved them, where are they?), but if you’re just browsing with no particular titles in mind, you can certainly find something of interest to check out here. Support your local libraries!

So here I am, it’s cold outside but nice and warm in this location. Tons of room to move around in and the choices of books is pretty good (well it is a library).
I do notice that there are quite a few vagrants here just sitting at the tables although they are not bothering anyone, I just question how safe is that with so many kids here. Went to the rest room and there was a guy obviously bird bathing himself and that kind of disturbed me.
Well as far as libraries go it’s not bad at all just the little problem of grown men all over just «hanging out» and obviously vagrants telling by the garbage bags some of them have. I don’t like to generalize but when I joined Unilocal I said I would not hold anything back and had to be true to everyone.
Now they do have classes for kids and adults here but of course you have to register. Have fun at this location, just be careful with your bags.

In and out quickly. My kind of library!
You’ve got to LOVE Chicago Public libraries! I mean look up a book online and request it and they call you when the book is there and this is a FREE service. Amazing.
I love the Rudy Lozano library. Sure, it could be cleaner and brighter but I’m betting it doesn’t get the funding that the North side libraries get. Maybe I’ll fix that someday (when I retire).
Anyway, for now it is a nice place for the neighborhood kids to do thier homework and a warm place for the homeless to take a nap. It doesn’t bother me. It’s home.

I went there twice in one particular week looking for a book. The first time the a male librarian (an older Latino man) was very rude and talked down to me. I left without the book as I felt degraded and humiliated by his «snarkey» behavior. The next visit, I walked up to the counter, stood directly in front of the female librarian and she continued to work on her computer. After a very long 2 minutes, I said «Excuse me, can you help me?». She looked distracted and a little perturbed and answer «Y-​e-​s» (with a grimace) as she continued to work on her computer. I told her that I had a book on hold. She found it. Put her hand out saying «Library card?» went through the check out process and simply turned away. I said «Thank-​you» as I am accustomed and she said a dry «You’re Welcome» in a tone as if it was a very difficult and painful task! I left and looked back into the window and she was smiling, laughing, and talking with the young handsome security guard, who appeared embarrassed by the way she treated me as I glanced at him on my way out the door!

I’m on a quest to visit every branch of CPL.
The Lozano branch is pretty amazing on the outside! And it doesn’t disappoint. There is a very big space just through the door. The librarians are friendly. The DVD collection is a bit smaller, and has a lot of duplicate titles. There were a lot of tables to work at, and a few computers open. Since there were a lot of people there when I visited, there was a lot of chatter. People weren’t talking LOUDLY, but with so many people talking there was just an undercurrent of background noise.

The selection of books and literature in Spanish are great, as are their periodicals. I can read a nice, crisp, copy of Vanidades or Vogue if I am in a decadent mood.
Their librarians are helpful and inclusive of the community. Their children’s selection is pretty good, and they do a great job of keeping the kids’ areas safe and separate of bums. They also have an interesting exhibit celebrating Rudy Lozano’s life and showing how hard Pilsen fought for the construction of a public library. +4 stars.
This place has really tight security that doesn’t let adults play chess even when school is in and they won’t let you plug in your laptop in certain areas. This is a bit strange to me, because although there is tight enforcement of such rules, there are usually a lot of bums hanging out in here — and most of them are not doing job searches or anything productive except for murmuring B.S. stories to one another. The bums here are worse than at other libraries. Some of them come in totally hammered, and are more disgusting than LULZ.
One Saturday morning some guy was browsing PornHub on a computer without a screen protector. There are children here, you know? Dude, at least go to a computer with a screen protector. How did security overlook this? I want to give this place negative stars for this kind of ambiance sometimes, but the resources here are so rich and accessible to the community that I don’t want to do that.
Their Wi-​Fi is pretty good.

I’m a lover of libraries. A ravager of reading really radtastic books… a…a…
I give up. Alliteration has never been my strong point. Plus, «radtastic» isn’t a word. And I kind of don’t like myself for using it. I feel like people should be pointing and laughing. Loudly and with wild abandon. .As long as we’re not in the library. ‘Cause libraries are bastions of peace and quiet. No pointing and laughing allowed.
All that aside, I was raised to love libraries and everything housed within them. I even celebrated one of my younger (seven, eight?) birthdays in the garden of our town library. My mother made a cake shaped like a book (not a hard feat, I know, but it was homemade. None of that packaged crap.) and the whole party was book themed. It was beautiful. And incredibly dorky.
Back to my point (tangents are a major downfall). Libraries are awesome. They allow people of all ages, shapes, sizes, intelligence, etc read for free. This one does it’s job admirably. The librarians are nice, the books exist, there’s lots of natural light… what more could you ask for? Plus, it’s a two minute walk from my apartment. I know most of you don’t care about that. But one of the reasons I choose to stay in this same little 2 block area is because of proximity to the library.
Library. Wonderful. As all libraries are or at least should be.

This is my neighborhood library and one of my favorite haunts when I’m bored. The guy and I like to come here and check out free dvd’s each week. There is a decent selection of English and Spanish books, with a lot of cookbooks for me to check out.
The librarians are always friendly and most are bilingual. The last time I checked out a knitting book, the librarian and started chatting about knitting and yarn stores.
Overall, this library serves the Pilsen neighborhood well!

They also have a great Spanish-​language section, a cool set-​up, some good finds that I haven’t found at any other location, and chess sets, waiting for the right master.

Located right in the center of Pilsen, this library has lots of huge windows. They have the largest selection of Spanish materials of any of the CPL I’ve visited.