Lakeland Public Library

It is a visually nice library, very busy. Conveniently located next to the Art Museum, Mr. Fish, and a beautiful lake of swans. But I struggle not to give this library lower than a 3. I found it unfriendly and barely useful.
I needed a computer and a program the library purchases. The computer lab is next to the reference desk where the male clerk talked in full voice (did I say loud?) the entire 60 minute daily limit I was on computer. It was EXTREMELY difficult to complete my work. He was rude to many people and the lab was Grand Central for users in there to «play and hang-​out» (and he wasn’t rude to THEM).
There was lots of commotion outside the library – teens loading into buses for day trips at one end and transients strolling the front sidewalk. Although I have used the library for twenty years, I’m not there a lot, so they purged my library card and treated me like a liar when I said I had one and it wasn’t in there computer. (I even belonged when it used to cost $ 35 a year outside the city limits!)
They have a nice meeting room for organizations. They have a lousy Florida history/​geneaology room and collection and suggest you use the Bartow Library for that. Based on my experience, they will be purging my library card again, but my review does not provide fair experience with book check-​out, regular interaction, etc – so use at your own risk!

The Lakeland Public Library is a wonderful asset to our community. I have made use of their collections for nearly 23 years and will continue to do so. The main branch is the one I use the most; I have only been to the Larry Jackson branch a couple of times and I have not been to the southside branch. The staff is generally friendly and knowledgable.