Eloise May Library – Arapahoe Library District

The librarians here are consistently helpful and friendly. Thankfully I have visited during quiet hours. I like the fact that it appears to be very child friendly. However, I was slightly taken back by the amount of Russian books. I mean there are several rows. I suppose they are catering to the immediate area.

I live very close to this library and have since I moved here four years ago. That being said, I enjoy this library and was concerned about some of the reviews on it.
I feel it unfair to rate a library on it’s patrons rather than it’s media. I have been there several times and it has not been so noisy to where I couldn’t concentrate. Always a dull murmur, which I expect. I would love if their selection was slightly larger, especially in the applied science and Buddhism area, but I always leave here with multiple books, even if it is not exactly what I had in mind. I also appreciate the extended check out times (online) and self check out areas… I personally am a loner and diy kind of gal. The less I have to forcefully conservate, the happier I am! Super quick and efficient check out is my cup of tea. You will always run into people you don’t like or appreciate their behavior in public places, unfortunately, but this library is a pretty cozy little place. The staff I have spoken with are polite and I like how they have woven in Russian ethnicity in the library for the Russian community in the area. I feel it’s appropriate and open minded! Overall, I will continue to frequent this library and enjoy the facility very much.

This is a great neighborhood library on the corner of Parker and Florida. It serves the surrounding area, full of diversity with Russian and Spanish speaking families. I’m so impressed with the languages offered, including the Russian speaking staff and entire section of Russian literature. Staff is friendly and helpful. The online system for checking out books is great, you can do it from home. What I’m also excited about is that you can check out GoPro cameras and iPads here! It’s awesome to give people and kids a taste of the technology if families can’t afford to buy their own. Often there are no computers or tables available, but that makes me happy because that means kids are still spending time at libraries! Read them books!

Reading other people’s reviews it sounds like maybe this place hasn’t always been as great as it is now, but I think it’s one of the best I’ve been to yet!
Pluses:
–friendly staff
–lots of computers for such a small branch
–great kid’s section with little toys to entertain them
–books in English, Spanish and Russian (!) including kids books
–lots of multimedia platforms including audio books that come on a device you can just plug headphones into (also available for select DVDs)
–clean, well organized and a beautiful new building
–self checkout kiosks
It looks like some people have a problem with number of kids who use this library and the noise level but I am glad to see so many kids at the library! But then again, I’m of the belief that libraries are community spaces that help instill a love of books and learning from the youngest of ages. I admit I’m biased because I have a young daughter but I feel like kids have as much ownership and right to be at that library as I do, if not more. Adults can easily go somewhere else for quiet but youth and children are often limited in their choices. Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now…
Do yourself a favor and «checkout» this library!

My favorite library-​even though there is one closer to where I live, I prefer coming to this one. Great location, plenty of parking.
The selection of books and DVDs is top-​notch and the entire staff is professional, extremely friendly, personable and efficient. They will bend over backwards to get you whatever materials you are looking for.
The self-​checkout is extremely easy and you can place a book or DVD on your queque and whenever it’s available you get an email stating it’s in.
You can check your library account online, which I love.
Sometimes it does get a little noisy, but it’s such a popular location there is always a lot of people.
Many of the staff speak Russian and Spanish. Very helpful to a lot of patrons.

Good location, great use of technology. Love the selection of ebooks! I do wish the library had a quiet area though. Its great to stop in and use the available resources but if this was your primary area for study or research it would be nearly impossible to get anything done.

I can’t believe how children are no longer taught manners in this child-​centric society. i went to a yearly book sale at my local library to see what deals I could get on some great treasures.
There seemed to be more children than adults at the sale. Children were talking loudly in their unintelligible language as they had not learned to speak yet. They were all at least 5 or 6. I was certainly speaking by that age. I do believe some rude parents aren’t reading or teaching their children how to speak, read or write these days. That is why we have so many teenagers and adults who are functionally illiterate in my opinion. Others were yelling and babies were there crying and stinking up the sales room with their stinky diapers.
To top it off when I was looking at dvds for sale a kid who appeared to be seven, dropped a dvd on my foot. I asked the brat, ‘what do you say?’ He just stared at me as did his young Mom. I told her that her son dropped a dvd on my foot. She stated that it was an accident. I told her I did not appreciate it and she finally got him to apologize to me. I told them thanks and walked away.
As I checked out I lodged a complaint with the library employes and volunteers about the loud and disruptive children at the book sale. I also said one dropped a dvd on my foot and would not apologize immediately. Their response was ‘it is a library and kids are welcome here.’ I told them that libraries are supposed to be quiet and children need to be quiet and behave. I also told them I would have browsed longer and possibly spent more if not for all the disruptive children in attendance.
I did not receive and apology and they told me thanks for informing them. I then told them that I do not have children and don’t wish for disrespectful parents to inflict their children on me in public.

Fairly small but houses a decent selection of DVD’s. Disappointed by the lack of adequate study space (the tables were overrun by kids completing crafts) and the blatant disregard for respectful silence. A very noisy establishment!

I love this library, I really do… it’s close to my house, it’s new, touch screen self check out, mostly helpful staff (although not always knowledgeable). I like the rows and rows of Russian books (although I don’t understand any), the computer stations and the conference room available. Oh, and they have a huge parking lot. I love their Xpress section; makes me feel like I won a mini-​lottery when the book I’m number 538 in the queue on reserved and yet I found it on the Xpress shelf.
Here’s why I took two stars off…
1. Call me old school, but I thought a library was supposed to be a QUIET place (how ironic am I to scream that in all caps?!). There are constantly kids screaming, crying, laughing, just messing around… Not sure if their parents are there, but the librarians sure aren’t saying much to quiet them down.
2. Ok, this isn’t their fault at all, and I know this is legal (I Googled it), but I totally caught some skeevy old man watching porn on the library loaner laptop. I don’t have a problem with him watching porn, I have a problem about him watching porn in the middle of a library full of children. I told the librarian and she spoke with the dude so it seems «taken care of», but seeing a close up shot of private parts while walking into the library is not something easily forgotten.
Make sure to use their online system to reserve a book or dvd, much better selection than what’s on shelf most of the time.

I don’t understand how a library can be so god forsaken irritating. I go here most lunch hours from work and typically either read or a book or go on one of the laptops they have readily available solely because of the proximity to my work.
That being said, I have never been to a louder library in my life. There are tween-​age kids stalking around the computers waiting to play video games or gossiping about god knows what, as well as, little kids running around screaming for their mother’s. When did a library change from a nice quiet place to get away from everything to a child day care center?
I like the idea of having available computers, but doesn’t there need to be a change on what the priority of these computers are? They should not be a video game center for tween’s to hangout on when they are on summer or spring break.
I also like the idea of having a child area for when parents want to go to the library, but shouldn’t it be set aside so it doesn’t bother everyone or even have an attendant to reprimand loud kids? IT’S A LIBRARY! One last complaint is the wireless internet; it is about as archaic and faulty as I have ever seen. How can the service go out every single time I use the computer and be about as slow as dial up? Fix this problem PLEASE!
Alright enough complaining… I do like the Arapahoe Library District; They have nice computers, great services to pick up movies and books and a good amount of locations. They just need to fundamentally change the structure back to the original library mentality.
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I love libraries, don’t you? At least, if the staff appear to be sober and coherent, which is simply not the case here.
The collection is great and the computers seem new, but everything is designed at a bizarre slant and the computers are just tossed around the library with no rhyme or reason… The people who «work» there, they’re a group of blind deaf mutes wandering around in some kind of narcoleptic trance-​stupor and when they engage in physical activity, it’s to spy on patrons, refuse work, or wander off.
Maybe I’m getting a little punchy as I get older, but I kind of like it when librarians speak English (at least so that it’s intelligible and as a native tongue) and are polite and what they say makes sense. At this library branch, expecting help of any kind is too much. The «librarians» must know they are set for life, because they either do nothing at all, spy on you (as I’ve seen them looking into my bags while I’m reading, trying to see what I’m reading, following me into meeting rooms asking me if I’ve checked out everything, watching me enter bathrooms), refusing service (I’ve had them repeatedly refuse to check out materials, even physically leading me to self-​checkout areas rather than do the work themselves).
At the Eloise May Public Library, of the Arapahoe Library District, in Denver, Colorado, the staff are rude, very abrupt, and always act like the patron, which is you, are a royal pain in the tuchis-​as if you are interrupting some kind of incredible book they’re reading (which may be the case) or some kind of card game they’re playing in a back room. This is why I always wanted to be a librarian when I was a kid; so I could get a job for the rest of my life where I can watch paint dry or just sleepwalk through life in a foggy trance.
The population in the area is predominantly Russian, but I’ve met plenty of Russians who are capable of being polite and professional (including my own grandparents and many co-​workers).
I’ve been to this library countless times to pick up material and return items and every single time I go there, without exception, the staffers are rude, abrupt with you, and always act like they have no idea what in the bloody world you are talking about-​refusing to check out items even if there’s no line anywhere, watching me enter the mens washroom, asking me if I’ve checked out items before I go into the «loo,» following behind me as I meet people, and so on.
If a book or DVD or CD is on reserve and the Arapahoe Library District website lists it as available on the shelf, it may or may not be on the shelf when you get there. And God help you if you ask questions! The staffers never know what in the hell you’re referring to and have no clue where your item is, and I’ve had «librarians» there insist that the item is on the shelf under my name – when I’m standing two feet away from the shelf and can show them that the item just ain’t there!
Most of the library has self-​service check-​out machines, which may or may not work. And if they don’t work, the «librarians» just walk you over back to the same machine until it does work or you give up and try another machine. They also regularly «forget» to unlock DVD cases if they check out anything for you. If you ask questions, they just stare blankly or mutter some unintelligent gibberish that doesn’t make logical sense.
The library «director» only makes appearances sometimes when you make a big fuss or nobody knows what you’re talking about. And when she comes out, she must be a drooling hydrocephalic, because she does not know to smile, apologize, or try to help in any way; except just stand there and stare like the village moron.
Bottom line: If you don’t mind rude, addle-​headed «librarians» who must’ve graduated from a librarian college run by chimps, than go there. If you do mind blind incompetence and total disregard for common politeness without any kind of accountability to anyone, visit another branch.
Also, there’s supposed to be a huge job shortage in this country. Why not fire the lot of them and hire people who will be polite and professional and try to please the public? But I guess that would require someone actually doing a job, so forget I said that, ’cause it clearly ain’t happening anytime soon. They are, after all, set for life and they clearly know it.

This library is confusing as hell. The aisles are at a slant so I can never figure out where the sections are. The public computers are just placed here and there so it is difficult to locate the computer you have reserved even with the little flagpoles that remind me of the poles that are put on the Rascal scooters so you can locate the rebel elder.
Additionally, I love my international people but they are not very helpful as staff of the library when there is a language barrier.
Lastly, there is no one to beat the kids’ asses who patronize the place loudly and rambunctiously.

I think it is an amazing library. The kids area is great. The mobile laptops are awesome. It is not quiet, but it has a great selection and everyone is helpful. My daughter didn’t know where to look first.

Not at all quiet, and much smaller than I expected… but the staff is nice enough and the building is new, pretty, and within walking distance of my apartment. I also like the self-​checkout so there’s not somebody silently judging my random book choices. Did you know you can check out up to 60 books?! Insane! And yea for being open ’til 9!

What ever happened to being quiet in the library? And reading books, too? All I see are teens and tweens on MySpace and shifty-​eyed guys better suited for «To Catch a Predator.» I’m starting to sound like Mickey Rooney on 60 Minutes so I’ll stop there.
Last night, I was lucky enough to secure one of two study rooms. I was a single so they could have made me leave if a group of two or more showed up but I was able to stay for my allotted two hours with little disruption. I say «little disruption» because the incessant self-​checkout beeping right outside my door and the crying infant (yes, infant) became increasingly distracting.
Overall, this place was about as quiet as a Starbucks. I was there from 5 – 7 (peak library time I’m assuming) so I’ll cut them some slack there. I’ll be back only because it’s close to home. Blegh.