Santa Monica Public Library – Main Branch

Nice facilities — but it’s pretty much taken over by homeless who use it to park during the day. I feel bad for the homeless folks — but this is not the place for them. Total failure by library staff and civic authorities.

First time here, and it was great! I was surprised how much I liked this library. It’s clean, lots of space, and plenty of outlets. The wifi is strong and there was plenty of natural light (one of my favorite things about a study spot.
Parking: free 30 minutes then $ 5 max for the day (still cheaper than most places in SM)
WiFi: GOOD, strong, and free
ambience: nice, lots of windows, and quiet for working
space: lots of open chairs and large desks
other: its right next to Philz so you can grab a mint mojito to make the day super productive
Overall: will definitely come here again. Note: there is a homelessness issue, but it wasn’t an issue!

Beautiful place BUT homeless people everywhere throughout the Library!!! Sorry but the smell made me runaway. Very disappointed :(

Great facilities and staff. I love this library, especially the architecture and interior design. :)

First time going to this library! I actually loved this place so much that I applied for a library card lol. Interestingly enough, the Santa Monica Public Library is not part of the LA County public libraries. I had no idea about this. The library cards are available in a variety of designs. I chose the «Library Man» design which was definitely drawn by a child :)
There are two levels I believe and an outside patio. Everything in this library is nice and for the most part new.
This library just has a fun feel to it and I would even go so far to say that I would come to sit outside to just chill and eat lunch here.
They also have a parking garage but it’s not free.

I like the place. I come here often to take a break from doing artwork at home. They have huge windows to give your brain a break from looking at your screen for long periods of time. They do have a lot of homeless people there though, but they’re cool!

This review is mainly for the staff which handles getting a library card. It SHOULD be very simple — give me your ID and I will issue a library card. That’s DEFINITELY NOT how it works here — in addition to providing ID you NEED to bring in proof of residency (doesn’t my drivers license PROVE i live in California??). I mean if i REALLY did not live in CA, and wanted to defraud the CA government — why the hell would i start by getting a library card. They insist on adding more red tape and bureaucracy to a very simple public service. The purpose of a library is to lend out books to the community — so why is it so hard to get a freaking library card. I want to borrow books in data programming — not sure why you need a copy of my electricity bill etc…
Pointless bureaucracy kills the magic of what should be a public good.

I love my local library. I understand that there is a homeless issue but it’s much wider than a library issue. It’s a city/​county/​state/​society wide issue. I think the library staff and the police/​guard presence is fairly good at shutting down any disruptive behavior by the homeless who hang out at the library. Homelessness is such a complex issue here, but these are human beings and this is one of the few dignified public spaces where they can find refuge. So if they can get something out of it without disrupting others I think it’s ok.
I normally use the study rooms (free to check out w/​library card in 2 hour blocks) or the café/​courtyard area. The café is open during library hours and is a great place to catch up with people, grab a coffee/​snack and/​or study. I haven’t had any issues having uninterrupted quiet time in either of those areas. The library also has a lot of great free programming for the community, such as free movies, book clubs, author talks/​signings, and community related forums.

Very disappointed that this library is only free to Santa Monica residents. I’ve never heard of a library to charge a fee for its use. Sad for those who really cannot pay this fee per year ($ 25) to access education and entertainment.

They need to rename this library the «Santa Monica Homeless and Mentally Insane Shelter» and build a shower facility for these doorknobs. Let’s just call this place what it is — a thug hideout and a transient truck stop (that happens to have a few books.) Like Disney Land for America’s wrecked crumbs. Tourists need to come here for one of the most surreal, and I mean really insane, public spaces in California perhaps next to Skid Rows tent city.
For example (where do I begin without this turning into a novella), a homeless guy was sleeping on the only available table. I had to sit there for my research — really needed the quiet and focus of a «library.» As I turned pages and typed note he actually threatened me to «Stop,» or he would hit me. Then he faded off to sleep again and barked once in a while coughing loudly as a childish control mechanism. At one point he came back to life and told me, «You are reading too loud.» Add a snark grin as well because the dude knew number one, it’s not like I’m going to fight a dirtbag (you learn to choose your battles in New York) and number two, there is ZERO ENFORCEMENT of any kind of behaviour. It’s the carnival from Pinnochio here and everyone is a donkey.
In New York, this is totally unacceptable so much so that in New Yorks Public Library anyone not doing what they are supposed to be doing in a library is forcibly removed. Does SMPL understand that a library is a public server provided to a society that is learned and working towards their self-​preservation? These people here are falling the hell to pieces and take up every nook and cranny staring inanimately at the wall or the same page of a book. These are not progressively thinking, foward minded people. They need LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR public assistance and grooming then MAYBE they can enter the space.
I don’t know if it’s the passive aggressive nature of SoCal that prevents security from doing their job, if it’s actually the comfortable management of the staff that is fine just putting their hours in or some kind of sympathetic (and I emphasize the «pathetic» part) b. s that you can have a library filled with illiterate, unmotivated, disasters of mankind sleeping and cavorting around as though this were a homeless agora.
The bathrooms. There is always someone taking a shower in the sink. And they look at you like it’s their bathroom. Those tired, depressed, broken eyes just staring at your taking a pee. Broken shadows of men carrying hiking bags eroded away from years on the street who make eye contact with you and send psychic signals of complete disarray, total lack of focus, defeat. Nobody WANTS to go to a library and be exposed to a documentary of the broken.
These people are absolutely nuts and I’ve worked on soup kitchen lines in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Gave food out to homeless on Holidays and served my citizens with grassroots actions to get folks off the streets. My brief education in psychology however, indicates that these SoCal transients have a rather special quality especially when mixed with the locals lack of what is right for them. It’s an unholy toxic alliance of passive-​aggressive discomfort and ignorance/​powerlessness on what to do. Their mental problems are emotional immaturity, authority issues, paranoia, lack of couthe, illiteracy and depression. Along with social disorders like Dissassociative Disorder.
On any given day you can find a number of zombie homeless dirtbags actualy shouting at themselves, talking to themselves, tossing shade to anyone in the aisle they happen to be staring inanimately in. It’s «One Flew over the Santa Monica Cukoos Nest.»
The bike racks outside are filled with «wagon bikes» carrying individuals entire lives and I mean bikes with trailers on them stuffed with blankets and taking up three racks. Good luck parking your bike here. The homeless people in the library use the bike racks as storage. The odors range from urine soaked skin to that danky musky «been sleeping on the floor» for a year smell. I work from home, have a home, pay rent, pay taxes, paid the $ 25 to use this library and needed to use the study rooms here — no luck. Rooms are sometimes available but 50% of them are loaded with people that belong in a mental or homeless asylum. This place is friggan disaster wrapped in the best architecture in town, its a pity. Your best bet is coming here, getting what you need and B-​lining it straight to the door. It’s what Michel Foucault in «Madness of Civilisation» called a Lepresarium. If you don’t vomit from your space being imposed on, from a maniac breathing down your back or from the insideous odors emanating from these ungroomed disasters of the decline of western civilization you will, chances are get sick from the fair amount of bacterial residue left over.
SMPL! Get your security and common sense of what a public library is supposed be! Get it together Santa Monica Library!

Looks like they really spoiled the kids… haha just kidding. But, they have a very nice Kids’ section. I guess they want to get the younggins reading — although by the time they are adults, there will probably be no more libraries with books. I’m pretty disappointed with this library though. I remember when it was being built in 2003 – 2005 and was so hoping it was gonna be good. But the layout just sucks and the whole place reeks of stagnant, putrid body odor. The walls are obviously cheaply insulated and the floors are just carpet-​covered plywood — you can hear your own footsteps as you walk along! Huge tables all over the place that can seat four or more people but the homeless people just camp out at them (individually, not in groups of 4). Today, I was sitting at one, reading, and his big black guy comes over, plops his 2 big duffel bags and then hauls out his laptop and his lunch (not supposed to eat in library, right?). The dude hadn’t showered in at least a week. It was disgusting. I got up and went outside and studied on the patio. But, that wasn’t much better. There were people talking on their cel phones and trying to close business deals… at a library? Come on. Why would they be hanging out at a library if business was so good? I love Santa Monica. It’s the best city in the US, well like top 3, for me personally. But this library is just a disgrace. Except if you’ve got kids.

I was visiting this Library just last night.
Mainly just to read my book in a nice quite environment.
The Library itself absolutely BEAUTIFUL
but the fact that you have to pay for parking is an issue.
In all honesty though its only $ 1 per hour so its nothing severe.
However the main reason i rate this place 2 stars is easy.
Theirs homeless people all over the place.
I work in the medical field so i can put up with Body odor.
When i sat down to read my book i kept getting a persistent itch.
Until i looked around only to realize i wasn’t the only one having this issue.
I have no idea if where dealing with lice, fleas, ticks or whatever the case might be.
But that is completely unacceptable for any establishment.
If that issue would be resolved i would gladly update my review but for the time being that’s a major concern that’s going to keep me out of this place.

Amazing library has evrrything you could want and more. I love their dvd collection with an awesome selection. Great indie and foreign films. The samo libe staff are super friendly and helpful. Open sundays!

The new $ 25 fee is a rip-​off. But the best part is having your time stolen.
If you go to the library’s Web site and enter your card number and PIN, you’re allowed to set up a user ID and go about your business. For example, you can put items on hold.
It’s only after you go across town to the library that you’re told that the staff isn’t even informed of hold requests until the next day, so your item will not be waiting. Hopefully, it’s still in stock.
The Web site also doesn’t bother to tell you that your library card has expired. First off, since when do library cards EXPIRE? And if they do, the library’s site should TELL YOU WHEN YOU LOG IN, instead of letting you reserve things as if you’ll be able to check them out.
In addition to the new $ 25 fee (which of course you won’t be aware of because of the dysfunctional Web site), Santa Monica adds insult by not honoring any reciprocal agreement with neighboring cities (as you’ll find in other major cities). For example, even if you have a Beverly Hills library card, you can’t use it in Santa Monica.
Santa Monica: a selfish, hypocritical, smug rip-​off. From its library to its city council.

Stopped by the santa monica library after getting my Philz coffee (on the same street as the library)…
Parking can be done on the street, or underground… if you are parking underground, the first 30minutes is free, and then $ 1.00/additional hour… i think that parking should be free if your going to the library. That’s why i could not give this rating a 5 star review… i think its crazy that someone should pay for parking to study/​or read.
The Library… when i walked inside, i was blown away, everything is so new, and has a café inside… alot of new books, magazines, computers, and the wi-​fi is very fast! however, there’s alot of people who are sleeping and snoring all around the library, which i found to be pretty funny lol.
OVERALL: parking is my only issue here, but a fantastic library on the west side of LA!

It stinks in here. There are a lot of hygiene issues with the clientele so if you have sensitive smell, you may not want to come here. That said, it’s a great library. High ceiling and lots of sun light. An awesome collection of DVDs to borrow too! The kids section is so cute.

I’m disappointed that the library has allowed so many homeless people to overwhelm such a beautiful space in Santa Monica. I don’t feel safe there, nor do I feel safe bringing my children in to enjoy what this library has to offer. They allow them to sit and lounge all over the seating areas and some are very, very dirty and may have lice or other communicable diseases that can affect the personal health of actual patrons of the library. Also, having to pay $ 25 per year to enjoy the library doesn’t seem worth it now with all the homeless making it their home. So disappointed! :-/

Gorgeous library, lots of space, free wifi (but not public computers). nice outdoor space and café.
The bad: More homeless people using the library than non homeless people. Seriously, I met someone here to spend 8hrs while studying for the bar. Every single space on the bottom floor was taken. Most of it by homeless people. The odor was horrific from some of the folks. Not cool.
Went upstairs, found a space and was actually told to be quiet my a homeless person who was reading a friggen newspaper. Not cool again.
I’ll stick to my library in Santa Clarita. We don’t have homeless people hanging out and I don’t have to drive and sit in traffic.

Santa Monica Public Library is a multi-​level building on Santa Monica Boulevard. It’s beautiful with large sun drenched windows and a small café hidden away in its belly. It has a large collection of books, dvd’s and magazines.
Membership is free for Santa Monica residents and $ 25 annually for non-​residents.
Santa Monica is a host to homeless people throughout the entire state. This library is where most of them go to spend time.

Sooooo not sure how to say this without sounding like an A-​1 cow, but the smell in here is super bad. I mean so bad. Imagine walking into a dutch oven.
The chick at the check-​out counter was WAY condescending as well. (She has a teeny tiny amount of power and is totally going to flaunt it.) I will say, however, that the gals over at the information desk were very nice.
I prefer to stay at Westwood: Less people and no ripe smell – all sans the snobbery… but still a really nice library!