Watsonville Public Library

Excellent place to hang out with the kids. Great Main Street location, bright, and lots of spaces to sit, read, and find GREAT books!

Great place to study and helpful staff!

One of my favorite places in Watsonville. It is such a beautiful library :)

I loved the old library and how it was a delightful, healthy hangout for young people after school and in the evenings. This «new» location feels and looks like a government building. Even the parking situation is unfortunate AND there’s no drive-​thru return box so you have to get a parking spot!!! The staff is wonderful and helpful, – they simply have substandard equipment and location to work with. Like… the so-​called automatic checkout system. If I hadn’t been in other libraries maybe I’d think it was sort of ok. But no, it’s unreliable and soooo slow for self checkout. The hours are often odd to me. When school is closed for vacation… so is the library! I know, the Budget is said to be the reason… for how many years??? I understand the library has a Friends Of… group and maybe there are trustees as well. I would hope they would advocate for a better spot in the city budget, go after grants, corporate monies, etc. to improve their bottom line. That could take care of money/​hours issues, but I maintain it is a very weird and unwelcoming design overall. Walking in, it looks like a bank, and if you have children with you, you have to stay downstairs with them since the rest of the library is UPSTAIRS… amazing in this day and age, that was thought to be a good idea. Then you go upstairs and the children have to stay with you in an area that has no interest for THEM… wow who thought this was useful???
You’d think I didn’t like libraries — not so. I want these places of literacy to be warm, welcoming, gathering places for all who are learning. This one is simply not a welcoming, delightful place and I do so wish it was. I am not alone in this opinion. Many of us who used to go to the other location enjoyed its welcoming atmosphere, and have largely stopped going to the library at all. I don’t necessarily have a solution (s) but I hope registering this opinion will prove useful in bringing the points I have made to light, and those with power and ability will consider making some changes in spite of the limitations of that location.

Great staff and weekly children’s programs.

free wifi and some quiet time for reading. just needs more parking areas besides having to park at the nearby post office or the 20min parking in the front. i bring the kids here also quiet a lot when they need reading books for school so its quite resourceful for our needs.

didn’t have the book i wanted (they thought they did, it was listed… they couldn’t find it). People weren’t helpful and they told me they didn’t know how to sign me up for a library card.

a huge improvement over both the older library, and the tiny freedom blvd. location. A great selection of books in Spanish, and even Spanish audio books. the upstairs reminds me of the layout of a nice private book store like borders, with lots of space/​light/​seating. Parking is an issue… I recommend parking a few blocks away and walking!

I finally got a chance to visit the new Main Street location. It’s very nice.
Bright, airy, and spacious. Everything is shinny and new, and they picked out some great furniture. I especially like the kids storytime room — it’s circular and has great acoustics plus stadium step seating!
Go visit! It’s such an improvement over the old library!!!

The brand new Main Street location of the venerable Watsonville library is very brand new. And shiny and clean, and has two stories, AND and elevator! There are many new shelves.. but mostly the same books, and the shelves in some spots are quite empty. Hopefully they have the budget to fill it up with some good stuff. Wifi of course, and lots and lots of study tables upstairs at which to utilize it.
High ceilings, beautiful mural upstairs, teen room that is cozily appointed, and readily available reference librarians in both the adult and children’s areas. Children’s area has a dedicated story room with multimedia equipment and stair seating — very nice.
One thing odd about the children’s area — which takes up almost the entire downstairs — at the moment it just doesn’t lend itself to coming to hang out for the afternoon with the kiddies. There really isn’t much seating, or cozy places to plop down with a book — I didn’t see any area with toys or puzzles for the younger set, which seem de rigueur in the New England libraries I’ve visited. With all that wonderful space — let’s hope that they work with it and make some improvements.
Also odd — parking in the garage in the same building (which is shared with the municipal court) requires walking out on the street and up toward main street about 100 yards before finally getting to the library entrance. Odd design. .
Anyhoo — a nice new building which has a lot of potential, and a vital part of the lower main revitalization of Watson-​town. Let’s hope they make the most of it.

Located in the heart of downtown Watsonville, parking can be hard to come by. Also, this library tends to be louder than other libraries I have visited. They have an OK selection of items, but of course it doesn’t compare to the bay area libraries.