Crystal Lake Public Library

Decent library, kinda small though. Parking is alright, but watch out for that steep hill on the McHenry Avenue entrance. This library really lacks tables and chairs. Come 3 o’clock, everyone has grabbed a chair and table. Same thing goes for outlets, but I know that’s not a quick fix. Almost all of the librarians are crass people who try to exercise their «authority» over you by citing ridiculous rules, like not having your charger’s cord «obstruct» a walkway. They’re quick to scold you so be careful. Huge selection of DVDs and tons of fiction/​nonfiction.

Pretty decent library — good selection, not bad in that regard. What I don’t understand is why do the librarians need to be so rude? If it was just occasionally I would think nothing of it — they’re just having a bad day. But repeatedly being treated poorly by crabby irritable people can really sour a place.
It’s books people. Library’s are suppose to be fun and good for the community. Maybe try and lighten up and be kind the your patrons.

Not a bad library. They have a pretty good selections and unlike some other libraries the materials are where they are supposed to be. However this library needs to get into the 21^st century. There are no locations around town to drop off materials. You have to go to the library. They don’t even have a drop off location there, you have to go inside to drop things off inside. Crystal Lake is a huge town so it’s unacceptable that they don’t have a drop off box elsewhere. Also whoever owns this library is very sexist considering the ladies can go to the bathroom when ever they please but men must ask for a key. I thought discrimination was illegal…

The employees are very friendly and the ladies in the children’s dept are wonderful. I have nothing but good things to say.

I never really knew how nice the library was, until I left. I guess I was spoiled, because the library I use in Tennessee has such a limited supply of everything. Now that I am back, I will not take you for granted Crystal Lake Library!

Positives; Expected selection of books, CDs, audio books, DVDs, etc., several awesomely enthusiastic employees, usually plenty of public computers with plenty of available time, several nice nooks and crannies to get lost in, wi-​fi is easy-​peasy.
Negatives; Library Nazis will roust you if you fall asleep reading, if you want to spend a long time here there is no place to eat a sack lunch (the Library Nazis will accost you if you try to nibble anything), those public computers are mostly walled off when they have computer classes and time extensions are FORBODDEN, men’s washroom facilities are under lock & key — you have to ask permission from the Library Nazis to use them (a real pain near closing time as everyone rushes to use the facilities before leaving).
Oops, Postitives outweighed by the Negatives? Maybe.

Absolutely the best library that I have ever seen. Besides the expected selection of books, they get new DVDs and Blu-​Ray DVDs. I check out Xbox 360 games from here. They have hundreds to choose from and all current titles. They will ID kids for «M» rated games. The selection of audiobooks and downloadable MP3 books and audio is more than I can listen to. The CD music selection has thousands of titles, but can seem somewhat limited for a serious audiophile. Fortunately, this library is a member of a consortium that includes dozens of area libraries to share titles and items. I use their website to reserve my items, get an e-​mail when it is ready to go and go check it out. The employees are all polite and helpful. I have lived in Crystal Lake for about 9 years and use this library at least once a week. This is a resource that everybody should know about and use. I give it my highest recommendation based on my literally hundreds of personal experiences here.

Decent.
My kids like the play area with all the wooden puzzles, puppet show stage, and the two computers with marginally educational software on them. Usually I wind up nodding off on the couch while waiting for them to finish playing.
The other thing the kids like is being able to check out DVD movies here («I love Toy Trains»,“Bill Nye the Science Guy”, and so on). They let you take as many as you want but you have ot bring them back within a week.
A couple years back there was a vote on whether to give so many millions of dollars to build a newer, bigger library but it failed. So instead they have been rehabbing the current library for the past couple of years.

I love the Crystal Lake Library! It’s in an excellent location and it is the perfect size for our community. I would like to see them carry more books as MP3s, and either make them available online (which would be ideal) or through data CDs that may be checked out. The only issues I’ve had with this library is really the sorely outdated Internet book reservation system and website. It might have been acceptable in 2000, but almost 10 years later it really needs to be scrapped.