Naperville Public Library: Nichols Library

Customer service not at it’s best. I went to the library yesterday to see about passes to the Dupage Childrens Museum. When I entered there were 2 employees sitting and having what was obviously a personal conversation, I had to wait for that to finish, then I asked my question and was told «I don’t know you have to go downstairs they would know», the individual then turned to their coworker and continued with what was a scintillating conversation. I headed downstairs and found 2 more employees in a personal conversation about their social lives, again I asked the question and was told we don’t kn ow you have to go to the other desk. At the next desk there was yet more personal conversation that I was subjected to,. Customer service, not quite, couldn’t the individual at the first stop have offered to call to the appropriate desk and find out the information? If you are the first person that a customer sees when they enter wouldn’t it behoove you to keep an eye out for customers and not have your back turned to the front? I really don’t care about your boots, plans for tonight or other things about your life, I do care about service. This was a fail in my eyes

I have been coming here for over 15 years and have always loved this library. However, the parking here is a joke. You’ll ether have to drive around the lot for several minutes or park several blocks over. I usually only go there to pick up my items on hold, so having to play the parking lot game is ridiculous. I would cry happy tears if the library ever created a drive through hold pick up service.

I love this library. Great resources. But OMG… the computer lab is noisy! The door should be closed from the lobby part, many people cough very loudly (can’t be helped, but makes it hard to concentrate…), some people don’t whisper, people don’t silence their phones or just let them ring… you get the picture. I don’t expect to hear a pin drop, but people shouldn’t get this comfortable either. Ugh.

A great big library with plenty of private seating and a large selection of books. The staff is very helpful and the library is a perfect size fitting this première city. they have two other branches but this library should be enough to handle all your requests.

Best library I’ve seen in Chicago!
Even you don’t have a library card, you can still use the computer, printer and scanner etc.
Staffs are very friendly.

A great place to come to with kids. The children’s area truly keeps toddlers and preschoolers entertained for a long time. The books are organized well and the family center has puzzles and educational toys that are quite fun. They also have a very popular storytime. Highly recommended if you have little children that need to be entertained.

Naperville Public Library is a huge library located right in the downtown area near the riverwalk. It is a very organized library that is definitely keeping up with the technology of today. I have an app on my phone that lets me reserve books and leaves a message on my phone when its ready to be picked up. The book selection is great and since i’m a huge nerd and love to read I have no complaints.
Compared to the Frankfort or Lisle library it was definitely harder to become a member as you need to show two forms of identification of living in Naperville but once you do its worth it!

PROS
Knowledgeable staff, friendly and helpful.
CONS
No quite study area. Loud and noisy. There should be an area with a door that is dedicated to quite study. Instead I go to the College of DuPage Library. It is well out of my way, but only place were it is quite to study. Just like a library should be!
BIG PROBLEM is parking! You have to get there right when they open, or good luck finding a spot! Spots are usually taken by shoppers. I have often had to park in one of the parking garages just to pick up a book that is on hold. That is SO frustrating!!!

Very good library system and the people working there are outstanding. The computer section lacks sufficient computers and a place to sit down while you are using the computer and printers.

Favorite area is the bookstore section (top level, north entrance) — books as cheap as a quarter, paying by an honor system pay box.
Very clean library, big spaces and great selections.

My favorite place to just spend the afternoon getting lost. With so many amazing resources available to you it’s easy to lose track of time as you take advantage of everything Nichols has to offer. I enjoy the seminars that they have open to the general public (Disney World Tips any one?), I like to grade my papers while over looking the river, and they have always been very helpful in finding my next reading obsession.

Love to study here!!! Love the atmosphere in this particular library. I like how it is situated in downtown naperville, where i can walk to get a coffee or some food.

This library has it all: tons of great reads in all genres, graphic novels, young adult section, a great computer lab, a whole floor dedicated to kids.
Totally close to a Starbucks and the river walk making the idea of grabbing a book, a coffee, and a bench near the river super easy.
Did I mention it’s completely free to rent DVDs? Let’s never pay to rent those again. And they have a great music selection.

complaint:
don’t know why you can only park in the PUBLIC LIBRARY lot for 3 hours only?

How have I not reviewed the Nichols Library yet? I’ve now lived in Naperville for a year and I’m really happy to have such an amazing library to use. Everybody who works here is friendly and helpful, the library has great hours, and the book selection is excellent. Convenient drive-​through drop off for the days when you don’t want to go inside.

This library is one of the best by far! They offer so many great activities for all age groups. The children’s area is fantastic. The children can do educational games on the computer or use their imaginations playing puppets in the play area. The selection of books is awesome, and the kids always find new interesting reads. I love being able to renew or reserve books online. The reserving online is great, because they are ready for pick up when I get there. You can’t ask for a better library than this one.

The staff is SOOOOO friendly, especially when I take my 7 year old son in search of Ninjago books and movies… they are more than happy to walk upstairs if something just came in.
And their iphone app is great and you cant beat checking yourself out when you leave.
Congratulations on being named one of the BEST Libraries in the Country!

17 years of this library telling me how great it is have not made it so. Yes it’s very busy, but no, it’s not better than much smaller community libraries that have far fewer resources to draw upon.
The old catalog software system was better… MUCH better. The library ignored my comments during the evaluation phase for the software. Now, after more updates, the system is no better and they recently made the self checkout kiosks worse with smaller text and an extra step to finish. Who in hte world designed that GUI? Wow.
The website circa 2012 is a nightmare of wasted space and useless info. Why do people hit a library site? TO SEARCH THE CATALOG. I use the mobile site even when home to eliminate the clutter.
The staff are usually very helpful, but the checkout folks can range from great to downright incompetent and insulting.
I have recommended many purchases with varying results:
I was told a renowned design reference text could not be purchased because it was over 2 years old. There was no newer version to buy! Got it through interlibrary loan.
I was told a CD could not be purchased because it was not available through their overpriced library supplier. Somehow it gets purchased 3 months later once the group gets noticed! Oh, but ask for some obscure profane garbage hip hop and there it is on the shelf.
I was told a movie couldn’t be purchased due to low reviews. 2 months later, yep there it is on the shelf. I guess enough people asked for it by then.
The textbooks for District 203 are supposed to always be available but are frequently incorrect or not there at all. When I inquired about a specific text, they told me that was 203’s problem. Nice.
The prior director was a ding dong. Hopefully things will get better moving forward, but I doubt it. They will likely continue to tell you about their awards and how much use the library gets.

Naperville Public Library has received some of the highest awards and recognition a library can receive. A mantle littered with trophies and ranking certificates doesn’t mean anything if only the talking heads in ivory towers care. Is the NPL system a reliable, sleek literary sedan with posh touches or a lemon wrapped up in schlocky awards and praise from people who don’t really exist, like many top 100 Amazon reviewers?
NPL is a Porsche crossed with a BMW in the days they were actually good, sprinkled with Japanese practicality and bulletproof reliability. Yes, indeed, the system really is every bit as good as they say it is and then some. Nichols Library is the heart of the local system, the original branch though neither the biggest or the newest any more. The explosive growth of the community in twenty years puts those laurels in the mid-​2000s built 95^th Street branch, but Nichols isn’t left in the dust.
Flanking downtown Naperville and steps above the DuPage River (creek, really), Nichols Library anchors the original heart of the city with its two storey, glassed-​in architecture reminiscent of nearly all academic buildings produced in the 80s. What looks dark and a bit blocky from the exterior immediately opens up into spacious, modern facilities.
Downstairs is given over entirely to a large meeting room used by everyone from the local NaNoWriMo group and presenters for library programmes (like «Touring India» or financial planning classes) to city council candidates. The children’s section takes up the rest of the floor along with a computer lab, and everything in the kids’ area is tailored to small people. Colourful, friendly surroundings have kid-​sized tables and chairs, racks of books and shelving parents can easily peep over. Outstanding resources available include kid-​friendly computers, a broad array of daytime reading programmes for infants to teens, and extremely knowledgeable curators/​librarians who must have the patience of God to deal with the city’s preschool population on a regular basis. No dark and musty corners, here, be assured.
Teens and the adult collection take up the main floor, though a fraction of NPL’s impressive collections are on site. Fully established sections for romance, young adult, mystery, sci-​fi/​fantasy, and popular literature stagger up the stacks. Fiction and non-​fiction receive equal love, and as a graduate of Naperville’s Citizens Academy, I can tell you this after having a very intensive study of the library’s programs and procedures. City tax dollars are heavily invested into improving the literary offerings across the spectrum, so new books found on Amazon or in Barnes & Noble or Anderson’s Bookstore down the street are just as likely on the shelf in Naperville within days of release. The website does a fantastic job of highlighting new releases and fresh acquisitions. They also support eBooks and audiobooks across the board.
Numerous magazines on just about every subject, including some very obscure titles and prestigious journals, are free for the perusing in comfy chairs where you could spend hours if you wished. NPL rivals Netflix, Redbox, and Blockbuster for its DVD collection; $ 1 and it’s yours to rent, including entire box sets for 14 days. Take that, Netflix! Even better, regular sales for gently used DVDs purchased in quantity mean you too can buy recent releases for no more than $ 5.
Nichols’ only major drawback is limited parking, exacerbated by downtown visitors parking there and wandering away. Plans to expand the parking deck into a multistorey structure ended up shelved by the recession.

So, in an effort to live off the grid (ya know, besides credit cards, student loans, car payments, cell phones, e-​mail, facebook, myspace, twitter, foursquare, Unilocal,and what not), I’ve never had a library card… ever.
In fact, after speaking with my BF today, I realized that I haven’t checked a book from a library since I was in the 5^th grade. I even remember the book. It was called «Manatees» and I had it memorized from checking it out every week from third grade to fifth grade. Now, you’d think after the first 2 years they would’ve just let me keep the book, but no. Instead, they banned me from checking it out for 2 weeks while in the fifth grade to «give someone else a shot». You know how many kids checked it out during that 2 weeks? Well, I’ll tell you. It was zero, a big fat goose egg. Stinkin’ Commie librarians. It is from this childhood trauma and scarring that I believe I developed a bad taste in my mouth for libraries. That is, until today… enter The Nichols Library of Naperville.
I was a little worried at first that it would be like church and they would take one look at me and know that this sinner hasn’t been bonin’ too many books. I think at first they were a bit weary of me… it was actually harder to get a library card than it was to get my drivers license but I understand where they’re coming from with what I’m sure is a meager budget and with my closest encounter to library in the past 10 years being the episode of ‘Silent Library’ on MTV with Justin Bieber, I’m sure I looked like a high risk liability to them.
Once I got my card I was assisted at the questions desk (I had LOTS of questions) with all my needs for a few reference books. The woman at the counter was so helpful and so well versed in everything she had available. She was probably the smartest person I’d ever met… and it was probably all due to books.
Once I had my reference books I took a table by the window overlooking the river. It was easy to find seating and there was plenty of space for my laptop, my 3 giant reference books, and I. The wifi is free and they have a speedy little internet connection. I absolutely fell in love with the place. With all the magazines, dvds, blu rays, cds, oh, and books, it was hard to see anything but hearts for the Nichols Library. It’s probably the coolest place I’ve been to in Naperville and it’s all totally free. I was able to sit there and bone books for 4 straight hours without hassle. I even checked out a few things… okay, they were DVDs, but so what? It’s a step in the right direction and at only $ 1 a rental, how could I pass it up? PS– Star Trek was sexy and I can’t wait to watch ‘The Crow’ tomorrow.
This little Nerdy Birdie can’t wait to fulfill her book cravings at the Nichols Library. Mmmm… lieberries!