Hillsboro Main Library

Very friendly. Nice selection. I wish they had more Spanish books.

Perfect place to study and concentrate on work!
Wifi is super fast, plenty of private desks with beautiful view!

A location for the intelligent can be found in Hillsboro Main Library. They have so many books, small rooms, art, a café and of course a 3D printer of which is available for 3D printing on Monday nights. The bus unfortunately runs there only once an hour and it is a half-​hour walk from the nearest light rail. There is a park behind the library, but it’s private business property, so you may not want to enter. However, the view of the park from the windows is extraordinary. The interiors do feel a little bit like an open field at times, so some might enjoy a smaller setting if it doesn’t feel like that.
The plan for me was to take a look at their 3D printer. It is an emerging technology, and as someone going into the tech industry, probably of nothing relating to that, but nevertheless it seemed worth examining. I’ll have to visit again on a Monday night.
It is a vast space to be seen at this library. Two benches are next to the parking lot. Computers and scanners, devices of all kinds, decorate this institution. There are lots of seats. I can assure you that you will find plenty to see here.
Hillsboro Main Library is an attraction.

Our entire family loves this library. The little one for the Sunday story time and our older child for the huge selection of how to books. My husband and I love it because it’s a fun family activity that is close to home! Super clean and gorgeous views from the upstairs windows!

What the exact purpose of public libraries is in today’s age is a question for another Unilocal review, but this is a fine library. It is architecturally very modern, and it’s clean inside. The demographic mostly skewed to old people, which is good. There are a lot of automated/​self-​service tools. The views of the creek and airport are very nice. There is ample free parking. They also have a very large Friends of the Library Bookstore upstairs, which holds an additional large annual sale. The selection is surprisingly good for a place like Hillsboro, and even for Portland. The prices at the store a bit higher than you’d expect from a public library, but in these uncertain times for libraries it’s probably reasonable.

Probably the best public library I’ve ever been able to appreciate in my life. Beautiful and clean atmosphere inside and outside. Big windows overlooking ponds and walking paths and parks. Secluded area so no bustle gets inside and it can be a calm and mellow escape from daily hustle when you need it. Spacious and functional study rooms available for use for free and make ahead reservation that include white board and markers to use for group study. Nice coffee shop with friendly staff that surprisingly doesn’t add much noise to the interior. So many table and comfortable chairs to sit in and enjoy. There is even a fireplace room with couches. This library is very well designed, functional, and available for free public use! If you’re not taking advantage of this public facility, you are missing out big time! They also offer many free programs, movies, community activities, and computers with internet access. Please use what is available publicly to you that we all pay for! Don’t let it go to waste or take it for granted. This is our great benefit!

A local news station has a question of the day each morning. A few days ago, the question was something to the effect of Over 80% of American adults say they haven’t visited this in over a decade. The answer was a library. I could absolutely see how this would be the case since not everyone is lucky enough to live the Hillsboro Main Library. The first time I went here, it was cold and rainy and yucky but when I was walking into this library I felt like the sun was shining, the birds were singing and an angelical chorus rang out. What a nice place! First off, the parking lot is big which is a plus since there’s usually a lot of people. It’s open on Sundays. It’s clean, well stocked, the employees are helpful, it’s clean, it’s clean, oh and did I mention it’s clean? I say this because I remember one time walking into the main library in my hometown. It was a scary, dirty, dingy looking place that looked more like skid row than a place of learning.
HML is big and the views in the back are so pretty! There’s also a little café in there, but I haven’t bought anything, so I don’t know if it’s part of the library, price, taste, etc. They also have a big selection of DVDs. Upstairs they have a big selection, but there’s a cart downstairs close to the popular books which had some DVDs that people would actually want to watch right now (think Breaking Bad and Downton Abbey).
One of the times we were here, we came specifically to see if we could find some of the books on my son’s Battle of the Books list. One of the employees asked if we needed anything and when I told her the title, she knew that it was a Battle of the Books book, the level and that the copies were out.
I read a lot. Each time I come here I end up kicking myself for not using the library more than I do. I buy books when I could just check them out or rent them out for my kindle. There’s no excuse, really. I think I’ll make a late resolution and visit this library more this year.

Comfortable and accommodating. You can work quietly from the sofas upstairs look out the huge windows to the lake and the duck. Good coffee shop and a great children’s books and play area. They have a lot of nice things they do also. Great selection of books and DVDs. Beautiful location

Well organized, really big, and has a great pond to walk around out back. I love this library.

Hillsboro has two of the most modern and user-​friendly libraries around. The main branch is two-​stories and has a very open feel to it. It should be due to the very larger floor-​to-​ceilings widows that make up the outside walls. Book selection is great. Movie selection is outstanding and there are plenty of terminals for user to access the online catalog or the internet. The auto-​checkout system is very intuitive, too.

At first when we found out the library wasn’t going to be built on the corner of Cornell/​205^th/​John Olson after all, I was a little disappointed because it would have been closer to our house than the one on Brookwood Pkwy~HOWEVER, the location where it exists now is PERFECT! There is a beautiful pond that wildlife use as a refuge~Beautiful, tall oak trees were left standing on the grounds and the landscaping is nicely manicured. And, with the huge windows, you can sit near them and watch the on-​goings outside.
The self-​checkout has been upgraded so that you are able to scan several books/​cds/​DVDs at a time~and if you have to see someone for special assistance at the counter, it usually doesn’t take long. They are friendly, quick and efficient :)
The new return windows are pretty kewl, too. Instead of an item getting ‘lost’ after being ‘dropped’ in the box, the machine scans the item and lists it to be viewed on the screen. Wah-​la! It is checked in! You may choose whether or not you’d like to have a receipt printed after you scan the last item…
This is a wonderful library! And, I love the fact I can request material on-​line, receive an email when ready to pick up, and get reminders 3 days in advance when something is due.
I love this library! What an asset to our community!

The newest library of WCCLS system, it’s the bestest one! Big, bright & beautiful, you can spend hours inside. I usually don’t though, the lines are non-​existant, and the self-​checkout machines are a breeze — but I always forget to bring my library card :(They semi-​recently upgraded the return books too. It registers it as you enter it, so no worrying about whether they get your book on time if you’re cutting it close.
I don’t know what’s not to like!

Libraries are great and this one is a good one. Books, DVD’s, CD’s, etc are available to check out. Even better now that I have a kindle, free book lending.

Love this library so much. My kids and I ride our bikes to it when the weather is nice. I love the park/​pond/​paths around the library. The children’s section has regular book readings and group activities. The little café in the library has great prices… the cheapest around! It’s just an all-​around great place to hang out.

Here again to write a review about the Main Library and the children’s section librarians. We loved reading the picture books, but didn’t know many. After browsing thru, went to the librarian at children’s section for suggestions. She was right on and suggested a bunch of books. Borrowed some and requested some to hold for me to pick up when they would be available. They get books requested (if needed, from other branches) and hold it for the patrons in the right wing, where we could pick up. How resourceful is that! Applies to DVDs as well. This is really convenient service and I truly thank the library for that. Also did you see the magnetic readers while checking out books/​DVDs. It’s so cool, we can scan 2 – 3 books at once. My kids love this feature and reminding kids about it is enough to get them all excited to head out to the library. :)
TIP– For families those who enjoy picture books– search for the Caldecott winners (award winner picture books). Learned it from the librarian at the children’s section.

In the past six months, I have learned to love the library again.
Can we talk about the fact that you can get books for free? Not just books, but DVDs and Blu-​Rays. Not just movies, but seasons of TV shows. I don’t even have to go in and peruse the aisles (which, if I wanted to for movies, would still be awesome because they have SHELVES of them). I can just sign online, request everything I want, and then they send me an e-​mail when the item is held for me.
Yes, you need to wait sometimes for popular items. But, I just watched the first four seasons of True Blood without waiting at all (except for the DVDs to be shipped from another library), and I just have to be on a long holds list for the most recent season. Can we just stop for a minute and acknowledge how amazing this is?
Books and TV seasons can be borrowed for 3 weeks. DVDs and Blu-​Rays can be borrowed for a week. Because of this, and the fact that I usually tear through movies and books, I’ve been making a habit of just stopping by the library once a week to return everything and pick up my more recent holds (holds are only for 1 week). The timing works out really well, and if I make sure I always go on the same day of the week, it decreases my chances of turning something in late and getting a fine.
When you go in to pick up your holds, they have some giant shelves in alphabetical order, and your media is there with a little receipt tag in it. You just find your name, grab, and check out.
So, I use this Key Ring app on my phone so that I don’t have to keep membership cards to places. Since I thought that would be fine, I tossed my library cards in favor of this digital version. Don’t be like me! If you keep your actual library card, there are check-​out kiosks that are like the self-​service check-​out machines at the grocery store. Otherwise, if you don’t have a version of your library card that will scan, you have to wait in line at the librarian desk to check out.
They also have a couple of little kiosks on the outside of the building at right in the entryway to return books. The nice thing about these is that they scan the book as you turn it in (it reminds me of an ATM), so your books gets checked in immediately. You can also request a receipt if you are paranoid about having proof that you actually turned your books in. It is much less scary than dropping your books in a hole in the wall hoping that nothing happens to them.
If you’re a fan of digital books on your iPhone or Kindle, the library also has a service called Library2go via the OverDrive app (for iProducts, at least). You can check out digital versions of books. The negative is that there are usually longer waiting lists for these versions of the books, and the selection is smaller than what is actually available at the library, but I’ve found a number of good books to read that way, and it’s really convenient having it on your electronic device. Another bonus is that the books check themselves in after the borrowing period is up, so you can’t accidentally get fined for turning them in late. One thing to note is that you have to change the borrowing period from 7 to 21 days in the settings as 7 is the default, and that is a really short period of time to borrow a book! When your hold comes due, the service e-​mails you, and you have 72 hours to «borrow» the book.
This library is HUGE, probably because it serves so many people. Every time I stop by it is crowded. I hadn’t been to a public library since the one in my hometown when I was a kid and read constantly, so I was really surprised by the fact that you could even borrow movies at the library. If you want to watch something recent, the waiting list is always going to be super long, so it would be worth going to a redbox to pay $ 1 for, but if you want to watch something like Schindler’s List and don’t want to purchase it, the library is for you!
If you haven’t been to the library recently — GO! It is amazing. I highly recommend taking advantage of the online services to make your experience the best it can be. I honestly haven’t explored the building much — I just bee-​line to the holds, I might stop and look at the movies, and then I check out. I can’t speak to any of the other services or programs that the library puts on, but considering the sheer number of people that are always there and the quality of their other services, I’m sure they are probably worth checking out.

I love this library! It’s always very busy but since I put my book order requests in online, I don’t have to really look anything up when I get to the library. I just go and pick it up, and self check out. Easy peasy.
The bottom floor seems to be the childrens area. There is a large room just for kids. The second floor seems to be for the adults or folk who want a quiet place to study. There are large windows that you can look out and see a beautiful walking path and a lake.

I love this library. It is a great place to study. They have large windows with desks lined along them which make it a very inviting place to sit and study. The view from the windows look out to a few duck ponds surrounded by trees and a walking path. The abundance of natural light in this building is wonderful, it makes for a great reading environment. They tend to have plenty of open computers if you need them. This library also has a small café in case you need a snack or beverage.

Hillsboro is lucky to have such a great library! The recent expansion onto the second floor has been really great for this library. They now have more tables for you to sit and study, group study rooms, and larger conference rooms that you can reserve. The wifi here is great, and it’s right next to a beautiful park so you can take a study break with a nice walk.
Other awesome features:
— The largest collection of movies and DVDs that I’ve seen
— Well-​stocked with books
— Quiet reading areas
— Coffee shop in the lobby
— Fast self-​checkout stations
Bring yo kids, and bring yo wives, and check out all the library books!

As noted in my profile, I’m from Vegas originally. (shhhhhh don’t tell the neighbors.)
In Vegas, the libraries have sparse offerings. I’m a homeschool mom and when I couldn’t get volumes such as Moby Dick, but I COULD get every season of Sex in the City on DVD, I figured the library that I grew up with, where you could peruse the aisles, sit with a beloved tome and just take in the enormity that you could never, in your lifetime, read each book in that building, was gone.
Then I came to Hillsboro. The main library is not huge, but it is filled with (sit down… don’t want your system to go into shock if you aren’t from here) BOOKS. Books on shelves, books on carts, books, books, books. I went to the classic section and it was FULL. Wow.
I love the checkout system. I hated waiting 15 – 30 minutes in Vegas to check out. If I can check out my groceries, it seemed to me I should be able to self check books… but the system was barely ever up.
I note that they have some dvds and music cds, but by far it is not the majority of the library. There aren’t empty rooms of nothing but art. If I want art, I’ll go to a gallery! There are books. The selection is pretty even handed, I found conservative and liberal books. I found old favorites and those volumes just printed this month!
This is a nice library system for a smaller town. Thank you Hillsboro, for investing in your library system and keeping it as a LIBRARY. Bless you!