New York Public Library – Aguilar Library

While community spaces are being developed in this part of town, there aren’t that many, and this busy street (district public health office, bakery, grocery, post office, #6 train) serves as a sort of hub. There is a good mix of people who patronize the place — using its resources to read, apply for jobs, browse the internet or generally hang out. This library is doing a great job of serving its community and its operations are often maxed out. It really needs a bit of expansion.
My rating is from accessing the kids’ section. I take my preschoolers here regularly and it has come a long way since I used to check books out as a kid. The kids’ floor has a great selection of (recent) books in excellent condition, and is a bright and cheery open space with kid-​friendly staff. There are readings and crafts sessions, and adequate seating. We haven’t used the computers but it doesn’t seem to be overly booked when we’ve gone.

Oh dear, this location is a poor use of space. The seating arrangements do not maximize the potential of this location and it is quite noisy. The service is as helpful as it can be, which is not saying much. I was in line for the express computer and asked the front desk if I could get a reservation for an empty computer and she responded «it’s probably already reserved.» I didn’t push the subject and 10 minutes later, she let a another guy have the computer… The location actually feels understaffed, but that might be because the other two employees are too busy surfing facebook and youtube and there’s just one person who’s actually working.
As others have mentioned «but, yes, it’s a library,» I would still much, MUCH rather go downtown to a better branch location with better resources than endure this one. Yes, it’s good for the neighborhood that there’s even a library at all, but there are much better ones out there.

No, it’s not perfect.
Yes, it often smells weird.
Yes, there’s often homeless people chilling out at the tables for extended periods of time.
Yes, there’s often inappropriately loud teenagers everywhere.
Yes, you can very easily hear music coming from people’s headphones.
But, yes, it’s a library.
The books are free and available for anyone who wants to read them. And there are computers for those who do not have them in their own homes. And it can be a quiet space for people who need solace (when said teenagers are not there). Mostly, it’s a place where I pick up books I requested online, and can drop them off until 7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Unfortunately, they’ll be closing for renovations starting November 3 until «summer 2015» (read: God knows when). I’ve made donations to NYPL and funneled them all to this branch because Lord knows it needs all the money it can get. I hope the renovations serve it well and I’ll miss it while it’s closed.

I live in El Barrio and I like having a library close by where I can pick up my reserve books (if you haven’t used the NYPL system to order books I highly recommend it). The staff are always friendly, and even though the on-​site collection is small I always find something interesting to read or watch. Plus, it’s a great location on a street with a post office, supermarket and bakery. I only wish it was open later.

The library provided wifi but wasn’t stable to surf. The library was divided by three sections, the children’s center on the second floor, the young adult section on the left side from the entrance and the adult section on the other side. There’s only 5 computers avilable and they were always in reserved. I won’t recommend you guys to use the computers there unless you need to print stuff.
There’s a library copy card machine near the fake stairs at the back: you can purchase a copy card which costs a dollar and start refill money. A copy costs around 10 cents? I’m not sure, just go ask the Liberian. They are very nice and helpful sometimes.
Overall, the library was pretty small with limited resource, it’s not gonna help you with research paper or anything. I usually go there just to pick up my reserve because the library is quite tiny, you can always pick up your reserve sooner than you expect since there’s no much workload for the librarian to handle or organize.

Is this a shelter or a library? Go somewhere else, this library is horrible.

First floor, very very very very small and limited, always full and always smells like armpits. Second floor is for the kids, I’ve only seen through the elevator. Third floor is a community room. Sometimes this is empty and you sneak up there for peace and quiet, there’s tables and chairs and plugs, but no Wi-Fi…96^th Street & Lex is a better NYPL.