Seattle Public Library – Queen Anne Branch

This library is the closest Seattle branch to my place and it’s not bad. Friendly helpful staff, street parking, what’s not to like. The variety is not the best since it’s a smaller branch, but you’ve got options to hold your books here and pick them up. If you plan ahead and don’t want to deal with downtown parking then this is a good hub for drop offs and pick ups.

***½* stars
«There are better places to carry on a breezy conversation than a public library. Try Starbuck’s or on a hammock in your backyard.» –LH
This Sunday afternoon, just when I thought that most Seattleites are injured to the ingrained habit of letting their mouths flap open in public, or moreover, wherever physical space they occupy – , I had a good experience in this branch library.
(After all, why discriminate between home, Starbuck’s, Key Arena, Macy’s, library, church, Paris, St. Tropez, London, Phoenix, Harlem, or the Bronx?).
Maybe it was because I had come across an article by Thich Nhat Hanh on mindfulness, in the Utne Reader.
It is very cramped still, but no one was talking loudly in the reading room! Andrew Carnegie if he were alive would undoubtedly approve and be gratified by this respect.
There are even signs that ask patrons if they are using their cellphones to speak softly!
And the staff, by and large, seemed more aware of the needs of patrons for quiet reading and research.
Still, you do get patrons that insist on talking as if they were on the David Letterman show.
I was able to admire the enormous western stained glass windows that recall, in placement, the apsidal windows of Gothic churches but in their actual composition call to mind Italian futurist art of the early 20^th century.
Very different in design and feeling, of course…
Thanks to the gracious assistance of a staff member, I learned that the pastel-​hued stained glass was done by a local artist in the 1970’s and not contemporaneous with the construction of Carnegie library over a century ago.
Again, coincidentally or not, I had come to pick up and check out a DVD of Frederick Wiseman’s recent documentary on the National Gallery in London.
All in all, Venus must have been in alignment with Pisces Sunday.
Oddly, the building seems only half the size of the Carnegie library in the Admiral District.
As Carnegie himself might have said, it is possible not to have to always appeal to the lowest common denominator. Even in a country where democracy is so often pitched to popular tastes and prejudice.

This is a small branch but it is the perfect place to work for those who don’t like coffee shops (I find coffee shops to be too loud, dark, and I don’t like smelling like a coffee shop after I leave.) The people who frequent this library are usually families and working professionals so I feel more comfortable working here than I do at the Central Branch in downtown Seattle.

This library looks really cute from the outside, but the inside leaves much to be desired. There aren’t that many books here since this is a smaller branch. Also, there is a children’s section walled off to the left, but the wall doesn’t reach the ceiling, so anything that happens in the children’s section, you can clearly hear on the other section (the teen/​DVD/​non-​fiction etc.)
There aren’t that many tables for studying, and the ones that are there are really small. There are some computer cubicles that look okay though (although a bit cramped). The tables and chairs tend to creak.
There is free Sunday edition of the Seattle Times newspaper though, which is cool.

What a cute neighborhood library. They don’t have a great selection so the best option is to go online and request books to be picked up there. They must get a lot of requests because they have two-​three rows of them and you go and find your own holds and then ring them up yourself at self-​checkout.

I love libraries.
The Queen Anne branch is lovely on the outside, but I’m not a fan of this location due to the book selection and cramped quarters.
It’s awkward to browse for books. For me, it’s like trying to select a can of soup in a busy grocery store. Either I’m in someone’s way or I’m waiting for someone else to finish browsing.
It’s also a bit drafty and the bathroom is weird.

Very cool looking old library. Small, but the kids’ section is pretty decent. They had a lot of new picture books, and I wanted to take them all =)

Clearly there’s a reason for the bizarre, inconsistent hours of operation (it is Tuesday or Wednesday during the week that it’s closed & which day is it open until 8pm?) but that aside this is a great little local library and I’m thrilled to have it near by, silly hours and all. I’d hate to truck to Ballard or Downtown every time I wanted to p/​u materials. The librarians there were super helpful without overwhelming me with every detail of cookbook research. Small but well appropriated resource in the neighborhood.

The Queen Anne Library is a nice and warm and sunny little building that reminds me of a church, but with good books in it instead of Good Books. They also have a great selection of DVDs. I really don’t like their hours so make sure you know that they’re open before you go. Also, the place is a little small, so you might be bothered by whispering of any kind (not to mention old people on cell phones or confrontational homeless people).
Ballard and Queen Anne are pretty much my two libraries, and when I want to browse for a DVD, I go here. They also have some animé and graphic novels, but they never have anything I am looking for in that category (the novel Watchmen or anything by Studio Ghibli). Sure, I could put Watchmen on hold, but… you know. And I do have some Ghibli’s on hold, but it takes forever!
In life, there are many public libraries. Queen Anne is one of them.

Queen Anne Library is super small in terms of new releases, fiction, etc. but what I do like about it compared to the Main Library in downtown is:
1. Loads more DVD section that isn’t pillaged by folks. I rented Eastern Promises, the Aristocrats, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party in one fell swoop. Beginner’s Luck?
2. Cute ambiance that makes it feel like a traditional library.
3. Nice librarians
It’s good if you’re in the neighborhood but I wouldn’t go here for all my needs. You can always request books to come to this regional branch versus others: saving me gas and commute time is priceless.

This brick building is, in itself, a pleasure to look at. It is simple, classy, and inviting to the pedestrian. However, when one enters, one sees immediately that it isn’t nearly as large inside as it first appears which, you’ll find, comes with its disadvantages.
In one swift sweep of the eyes, every bookshelf can be seen. Most of the books lie on the perimeter in rows of four. The architecture has a mild elegance to it: classical archways (present only in the corners), two rows of old cottage windows which separate the library into three distinct parts: the children’s area, the main area, and the study area. The books are spread throughout.
The furniture looks antique, which emits a traditional library feel. Don’t be surprised to hear the chairs creaking and adjusting to the sitter’s movements. There are tall series of cathedral-​esque windows on every side and, as a result, never a shortage of natural light. Even the bathroom has a little casement in it which, from a certain angle, might prove embarrassing for some. The most beautiful window, though, is the huge blue and violet stained glass window in the immediate back. There’s no discernible image to it, but the piece as a whole is most magnificent, especially when the sun pours through it on those rare Seattle occasions.
After it reopened, I didn’t have much interaction with this place. However, after I started school again, I needed a quiet refuge in which to study. Coffee shops can only suffice for so long until one yearns for a more studious atmosphere.
If you’re looking for a place to study, BE WARNED!
Most of the time, it’s hard to distinguish this place between a library and a playpen! Because of its small and enclosed nature, sounds echo abundantly in here, especially the giggles, cries, shouts, and chatter of juiced-​up, doughnut-​stuffed kids.
The librarians, while very helpful and always patient, almost to the point of being subdued, hardly take action against the Queen Anne toddlers who insist on making the library their jungle-​gym. Parents, for that matter, don’t do a thing about it, either. In the many times I’ve been here to study, only once had I seen someone escorted out: a man with his two screaming daughters. However, it took at least five minutes for them to actually do something about them!
So, while this might be a wonderful place to browse around in, especially if walking around the neighborhood, or a great spot to pick up a reserved book, this library is not worth your time if you’re looking to study. Coupled with the very short and inconvenient hours, this library, unfortunately, ranks low on my spots in upper Queen Anne to find some quiet time. If the day permits, your best bet is to just stay outside and sit beneath one of the cedar trees where, I’m sure, the Wi-​Fi will still reach.

I like the staff, the renovation has added nice computers, the meeting room is much better downstairs now — our book group meets there monthly. You can order anything in the SPL and have it delivered. The selection of on-​the-​shelf books could be bigger, but not without expanding the building’s footprint, which I guess wasn’t allowed, based on the Carnegie Library historic aspect. Anyway, we love it. Especially Christiane, Irene, Heather, Amy, Doris and Tanya. Sadly, Paul, Jasmine and Emerich are gone. YES, we use the library a lot!

The Queen Anne branch of is somewhat crappy. The staff is great, but the hours are restrictive (though they’ve gotten better in the last year, it’s now open until 8 every weeknight but Friday), there’s only a handful of computers, and since it’s so small, there aren’t a ton of books.
But — one of the coolest things about the library is the website. You can look up any book, movie, CD and if they’ve got it, you can have them send it to your home branch. I am totally hooked on this, you can log into the website with your library card number and a PIN number you choose, then you can search by author, director, actor, title, theme, etc. You can also maintain a list of what you want (I actually have about 6 different categories, ranging from Fiction to Foreign Films) and you just place holds as you please. It’s a great way to catch up on movies you’ve always wanted to see but forget about in the video store (I’m on a Woody Allen/​Mia Farrow/​Ingmar Bergman kick right now). Basically it’s Netflix, but free — the only difference is that if you’ve got a late DVD/​video/​book, it’s only a .15 per day late fee — you’d have to keep something for over a month late to even hit $ 5, which is the standard rental fee at a video store.