McDonald Road Library

i used to be a regular library goer and then two christmases ago my boyfriend bought me a kindle and my library card just sat in my wallet getting lonely. but friday night i suddenly had an emergency, well of sorts… i had booked a spa appointment on sunday and bought a gift voucher to pay for it. but the gift voucher was in my junk mail so i’d not seen it to print it off and then i had this lightbulb moment, the library has printers! i can print at the library!
bright and early saturday morning (ok 11am) i headed to McDonald Road Library all set to finally bring my library card back to life. one of the girls working was very helpful and even though my card had expired she quickly updated this, changed my password for the computer login, and gave me access to one of the PC workstations. she couldn’t update my address as i didn’t have proof of my new address but said to bring that along next time i come in. after this i quickly logged onto the assigned PC, got into my email, and sent my gift voucher to print. prints are 20p per page (colour or black and white) and i only had a £10 note and they had no change for such a large sum. so i went up the road to get my sandwich for lunch and returned with a pound coin to help with the change situation, but then the guy i asked for help couldn’t get into the till so he said just to take the prints for free. very kind indeed!
besides my printer usage, i have to say McDonald Road Library is an excellent library. it’s one of the larger libraries in Edinburgh so has a good selection of books, including a foreign language section, a cookbook section, non fiction, and children’s. there is also a computer lab on the first floor so lots of access to PCs (you can sign up to use one for an hour although if no one is waiting to use the computer after you this can be extended). also they have a pick up service where you can request a book from another library and then have it delivered to this library to collect. and the staff are friendly and happy to help.
so definitely useful to have this library so nearby and who knows i may tire of my kindle and return to the old fashioned way of reading books that have actual pages and i need to use my library card to check out!

There are many libraries in Edinburgh. Most of them don’t have much to differentiate them from all the other libraries. However, I have noticed a few things about the McDonald Road Library, that perhaps set it apart.
Firstly, it is a 49 hour library which means, you guessed it, that it’s open 49 hours a week, including on a Sunday which is pretty handy if you tend to get a burning desire for fresh books over the weekend. Also, it has wi-​fi access, unlike a lot of the libraries in Edinburgh. Also, I get the impression that it’s one of the most multi-​cultural libraries in the city, with sections of books in Urdu, Chinese, Polish, and a range of other European languages. Finally, perhaps because of its central location, it’s also invariably full of tired-​looking old men smelling strongly of alcohol and who knows what else — which, in my opinion, gives the place a bit of local flavour!

This used to be my local library, right round the corner from where I lived. McDonald Road Library, at the end of the day, is a pretty standard Edinburgh local Library, but this not a bad thing. Not as well known as Leith Library down the road (albeit a very long road), McDonald Road keeps up the standards.
It’s a fairly large local library and other than lending books it offers the usual services like wi-​fi, computer use as well as various classes and events (such as free computer lessons).
As for books, it has a large children’s selection (and it really seems to accommodate for the local school) as well as having a better than average number of graphic novels. It doesn’t have a such a great selection of fiction, but ultimately there is limited space at a library like this. It also has a number of ethnic selections of books, I think in particular Chinese and Urdu (the library also offers Urdu lessons I believe).
A great little local library that is particularly suitable for families and children.

The library at McDonald Road has a really peaceful atmosphere and I like to come in here and just wander among the shelves when I want to relax. The selection of fiction is really quite good for a library of its size and if there is something you want that they don’t stock, the friendly staff will order it in for you from another Edinburgh library. There are a few computers with internet that you can book and they have recently installed self-​service machines that allow you to check books out and renew items in a range of languages. The foreign language section is quite big too, although a wide range of languages are covered so they may not have loads in your particular language. The staff really knows their stuff and can help you find books about almost every subject under the sun.