Logan Square Branch Chicago Public Library

I now realize I was spoiled formerly living near Sultzer Regional library. At first I couldn’t believe the Logan Square location closes at 6PM Monday and Wednesday; 5PM on Friday AND is closed on Sunday. Even though this is the library closest to me, I often try and reserve books at another location because it’s so difficult to make it here while they’re open.

I love the people at this library! They are helpful and friendly every time I’m there.

This is my neighborhood library and I go there all the time. They don’t have the greatest selection, but I’m an avid user of the library website and ordering books I want. It can take weeks to months to arrive in Logan Square, but its easy to pick up. When I first started going there, the staff was often a little rude, but a lot of the patrons treat them like crap. I’ve seen the clerks at the desk get yelled at many many times. It’s awful the way people will treat other people. Anyway, now that I’m a regular and the clerks recognize my face they are very nice. I always have nice conversations with them and have gotten great suggestions from some of them. It can be kind of noisy, so I never spend much more than a couple minutes in there, but I think it would be way to distracting. They also have a really nice reading garden behind the building that no one uses, I suggest sitting and reading there for a quiet moment (except when the el goes by)!

Small library but it’s convenient, is clean and has it’s own (small) parking lot. It gets a little noisy between 4 – 6 pm & staff don’t really address the issue. The flip side is that I’ve seen the staff be very helpful to others & they start to give reminders an hour before closing. This makes it possible for me to study without worrying about the time. I’ve learned to ignore the reminders until 10 minutes before closing.

this place is VERY VERY LOUD. i have been looking for a quite place to study for my licensure exams and the noise level here gets extremely distracting and frustrating. The most worst part is the other patrons are NOT the only culprits! yes, people take cell phone calls. yes, children run around like screaming wildebeests, and yes there are strange, gutteral hacks coming from a dirty man at the next table. what has me at whits end is a) NONE of these common curtesy offenders are corrected and b) the staff are JUST as talkative and noisy! i actually brought out my earplugs.

Nice little library. I always rate libraries on their staff. The people here were all super helpful and friendly. They didn’t have that «why are you asking me for help» kinda attitude. They have plenty computers and a nice kids section.

As a resident i have used the library most often for their community room to hold our non-​profit meetings. They are OK in terms of being helpful. When I have visited for copying or the occasional book — they have very little inventory other than popular stuff — i find one woman on the desk is quite nasty and a second is quite pleasant.
I was disappointed that the CPL had refused to take reservations for the meeting rooms because of their fight with Mayor Rahm over union hours. However, they recently agreed to reserve a room in late February. So we hope things are back to normal in Logan square.

i love this branch.
the staff is incredibly hard working and very helpful, despite the recent stressful budget cuts.
i also love the spanish selection.
keep up the good work, logan square.

I read other’s reviews about the smell, and thought to myself, it can’t be that bad all the time… Well, this is my second time here today (I do need the free internet!) and it really is quite putrid.
I should add though, from what i’ve experienced, the staff is very friendly and helpful!

I usually come here to pick up books on various interests: cooking, design, psychology/​neuroscience and existential literature are my most frequented pick-​ups. When I come to pick up my items, the librarians attitudes are a hit or a miss. There are two that are basically helpful and good-​natured, and than there are two that are not. The overweight lady with the black pixie is the worst. She actually rolls her eyes when I pick up books on design –as if it were any of her business! And the overweight latin one is quite often unhelpful and snippy. Other problems I have with the place is that it often smells funky and on one occasion, I caught a man urinating on the Chicago Reader stack! To make matters worse, only half of them were removed leaving the «untouched ones» smelling a faint odor of pee.
On the other hand, despite these unpleasant isolated incidents, the library is typically clean, there are a couple of very friendly librarians and the computers are usually available.

I have to admit that I don’t use this branch for anything other than picking up the materials that I hold online, but I’ve found this experience to be more enjoyable here than any other branch I’ve visited in the past. Always seems to be clean inside, the folks working behind the counter are super friendly, and the line (although the branch is frequently busy) usually moves quickly.

I am on a quest, visiting every single branch of the Chicago Public Library system. I am rating them on Unilocal and Foursquare.
This library SMELLS. It’s also quite loud, and full. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone looking for a quiet place. It seems as if this is a popular after school hang out for kids who don’t know proper library etiquette. A beautiful building, and, from my quick walk-​through, it seems like there is a great selection of books, movies and music.

Incompetent.
Don’t bother putting things on hold. If the book ever turns up at his branch, it will just go on the regular shelf. I put three books on hold in early December. Two months later, two of them are mysteriously still listed as «in transit» and one showed up but was never reserved for me. It was just put with all the other nonfiction books. The books that I placed on hold all had multiple copies in the cpl and had at least two or three that were not checked out at the time. Multiple as in 20 plus copies in the system.
This branch is just frustrating. If you cannot perform a service, do not offer it. Just tell me, «We cannot put books on hold or have them sent in from other branches.» Then I can plan on making arrangements to go elsewhere.
Also, the bathroom was really disgusting. I guess I just assumed that in a place where order is king, cleanliness would logically follow. Not so.

I get the concept that whenever you place a book on hold it’s no longer behind the desk, but sorted on shelves. When I first came here, it was to pick up some books I placed on hold. No, this isn’t my go-​to library, but it’s closer to my residence and at the time I didn’t feel like going to Lakeview. Regardless, I looked around and didn’t see the «hold» section and when I asked someone she snapped at me that they no longer kept them behind the desk and that I needed to get it myself. Yes, I know this, I was asking where that section might be located.
I find the workers are hit or miss. If they decide they like something about you, they’re nice, but if they decide they don’t…well, not so much. The lines always seem to be long and don’t move, not to mention the place is noisy. I guess the whole taking the cell phone outside only means beyond the front desk and not actually outside.
The plus is that I’ve frequently found books here (and actually available) instead of having to wait weeks for them to come from another branch. For the most part I’ll be sticking to my regular branch, but every now and then I’ll use this one just because of the convenience factor.

This branch has the worst selection of books and dvds. The art section is especially lacking. The magazines are all over the place. Not very quiet in here either. I’ve never been in a library before where I found myself trying to block out the noise to focus on what I was reading. It was like hanging out with my brother’s kids!

I’m writing this review using the free wi-​fi at the library, and for that I’ll give them one more star than the minimum. But every time I come here, I swear I’m never coming back. This time may do it for good.
The problem, as many others have reported, is that the people who frequent this place never seemed to learn that in a library, you’re not supposed to talk, and if you do need to talk, you’re supposed to do it in a low voice. This has never been a problem for me at the Bucktown/​Wicker Park branch or at the downtown Harold Washington main branch, but for some reason the people here like to sit around the tables in the reading area and chitchat about whatever is on their mind. Now, I’ll grant you, some of these people may be a little lonely, some of them may not have a good climate-​controlled place to spend the day, but could they maybe hang out in the building’s lobby or somewhere like that while they chat, and then return to the reading area when they’re ready to act like the adults that they are?
And just now a cell phone went off and the guy took the call; this is the second guy to do this in the last two hours. Ugh!

Rating breakdown: three stars for actual services/​amenities, plus one simply for existing. I’m a sucker for libraries, having grown up on universities, and I love that there are so many local branches in Chicago. For this reason only, I continue to go to the Logan branch.
The book and DVD selection isn’t bad — pretty consistent with what one might expect from a neighborhood branch of a large library system. In fact, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at times.
My only complaint is that this place gets loud. I tried coming here several times to study before I took the GRE and it was a total disaster. Sure, the place has tons of adorable kids running around and what appear to be various after-​school groups, but they weren’t the issue (such well-​behaved little book-​lovers!). Rather, the adult patrons drove me craaaaazy. Every time I was there, multiple people would get calls on their cell phones (ringer on loud, naturally) and would just pick up and start talking in the middle of the reading area. This typically happened within five feet of one of the «No Cell Phones» signs, so it seemed reasonable that a staff member might tell them to shut it. No such luck. It struck me as quite unfair to the majority of patrons who were there to study or read, rather than have extended and quite loud chats about, say, the weather.

A long time ago, I started to develop a mental list of jobs I wouldn’t want because they seemed too dangerous. And not the obvious ones like taxi driver or fireman. No, the ones I put on the list were the ones that I feared due to the possibility of random people walking in off the street and shooting up the place — with me as the first line of defense. A good example from my list is hotel front desk clerk. After frequenting the Logan Square branch of the CPL for internet services recently, I have added librarian to that list.
There are some regulars at this location with the crazy eyes!
There are at least a couple of people who scream at the computer they’re using. And a few others who wander around like creepy zombies looking for open computers to steal some time on. To use a library computer, you have to have a library card. To have a library card, you have to have an address. This means, in theory, you can’t be homeless and use a library computer. And yet still, a couple of times, I have whiffed the unmistakable scent of eau du street.
Couple this with the usual set of kids who hang out at every library yelling (some of whom tag the bathroom walls in this particular library with gang graffiti) and this is not your most peaceful place in Logan Square to relax with some free wi-​fi or a good book.
That being said, for being a smaller location, they are well stocked with said good books. I have never had to go far afield for a Unilocal Book Club selection. The librarians are knowledgeable and friendly (shocking with some of the checkout lines they have to deal with and the aforementioned crazies). And since not a lot of people know about the location, the museum passes and even free Ravinia tickets go later than at other branches. And the hours can’t be beat (open until nine on Monday through Thursday).
This one is only a block or so from my apartment so it’s close to my heart. Now if only I wasn’t afraid to mention that fact due to some of the customers, it would be a much better branch.

The Logan Square Branch of CPL is small in size, but it’s nice to have in the neighborhood. It’s newer, clean, has nice ambient light and ample seating. The free Wi-​Fi is a big draw here and the hours are ample. So skip spending money at Starbucks just to grab some WiFi. The books section is adequate for a rainy day or a Sick Day that you just want to read a book now.
The Logan Square Branch has the Museum Passports which allow users to check out a week-​long pass for up to 4 people for FREE access to museums such as the Shedd Aquarium, The Dusable Museum of African American History, The Chicago History Museum, The Museum of Science and Industry, etc. I grabbed the Passport for the Chicago Children’s Museum and it saved me $ 20 (enough for ONE hot dog at Navy Pier!)! This is totally cool for us parents, and all of us IN THIS ECONOMY! (There, I said it).
This Branch also checks out fishing rods and reels for the stocked Humboldt Park fish pond nearby! Now, isn’t that the coolest, Huck Finn? Library, library, more than a book, to liven up learning come take a new look!

Nice, new building with all the amenities. Free computer/​internet access (20 min max when there’s a wait) and free printing!
Small selection of books, but very friendly staff willing to help your reserve books to be delivered to the branch for you to pick up. Good movie selection, as well; may not need Netflix anymore!
Great library for all in the neighborhood!