Escondido Public Library

People say libraries are a «thing of the past». I respectfully disagree. Reading a physical book may not be as necessary as it used to be, but a library offers sooo much more to the community it serves, and the Escondido Public Library scores well in that regard,
We recently took out 6year old to get her first library card and reading books for school. The staff at the library made the process as quick and painless as possible. On our recent visits I have also found both the children’s and general sections to be clean and easy to navigate in finding the books you want or need. On most any given day you will find the children’s section bustling with kids, but it has never appeared to be chaos or a disaster of flying books and playing kids, as you might imaging. I also must say the the «self checkout» machines are very mice, even a 6year old can handle them with ease.

I actually found this library on Unilocal!There was a quiet section and that was all I need to «hear»! Bah doom.
Anyways other than your average street noise and kid crying once in a while it is cozy here.
Slightly outdated reminding me of the time my mom used to take me to the library on summer days for crafts and picking out my book of the month (which I never read)
For now,
Kayla
Chhh.

I really like bringing my kids (3) and (7months) here. It’s a nice place to get out the house and be in nice air conditioned place. It’s pretty clean, except for the bathrooms can use a little work. I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because the first time I went, I tried to get a library card and the lady at the desk gave me such shard time. Granted my ID was expired, but only by a few days. My birthday had just past and I had a toddler and new born. I think she could have cut me some slack. I know there’s policy but honestly she made me feel like an idiot. It’s a library card, not keys to a new car, I’m just she could have given it to me any way. Then as my daughter had a melt down because I couldn’t get her the book she wanted, the lady comes chasing after me, looks me in my tear filled eyes, As I dragging my screaming toddler out and my sleeping newborn, and says, you can take your daughter to play upstairs, you don’t need a card for that. And I almost lost it. Why would you mention a okay area to me in front of my screaming daughter. I didn’t have time to take her to play. My son had a doctors appt. I just needed a book to keep my daughter occupied at the doctors office. Anyway I hesitated going back there because I was pretty traumatized. But I did, got my card, and hung out for a bit and it was great. Kids loved it. I plan on going back more often.

I love going to the library to study, especially since coffee shops are too loud. Nice area for quiet study. There are outlets for each table which is nice. However the internet is a little slow. I have an online class and it always cuts out for a few seconds every 10 minutes or so.

For a booklover, this is the place. Armed with the Goodreads app, can be in here for hours. Staff is always nice. If you’re short for time, you can sign in online on their website and ask them to hold books. Those will be in front right next to the self-​checkout (WIN!) lanes. In & out in less than 5 minutes.

This place is disgusting. Smells horrible like beer and sweat. Never coming here again. All I saw was homeless people and druggies!!! This place should get shut down or something. Never coming here again

Don’t you miss going to a library? I know I do. Now everything is on the internet and my books are on my iPad.
First time ever going to the library in Escondido and I had such a nice experience. Came a few minutes before they opened. I was surprised with so many people waiting to get in.
I came to fill out some paperwork to reserve a room for a workshop for my old work. The people there were so friendly and helpful. They were working with a new system and everyone was so calm but still learning to deal with something new. Was able to view the room and plan out what my old work needs for their workshop. I had a very nice and pleasant experience here. Great library!

Slowest internet of all the libraries I’ve been too, including Poway, San Marcos, RB, and downtown. Drive 5 min to the SM location, 10x’s faster internet, smaller crowd, better building better everything. I didn’t know dial up still existed.

I like the library but I wish it could be more quiet! Every time I go there (and I sit in the specified «quiet» section) there is either a child crying, someone talking on their cell phone or their cell phone ringing loudly or alarms going off on their cell phone! I had to ask one patron to please turn off his alarm as I heard it three tables over and he didn’t even realize it was going off! And I don’t know what they have going on upstairs but once there was loud music playing for quite a while. I come to the library for peace and quiet so I can study, I might as well stay at home and listen to the same noise!

Love renting movies from here. I love foreign movies, so this is the place to go. Rent «Starbuck» a real funny French movie.
The library is really different than when I was a kid. They now let you bring in drinks, use one of their tablets and it’s not so quiet any more.
I love taking friends kids (since I don’t have my own) to story time at the library. The little ones love it.
The downside to the library is that it smells pretty bad. There are a lot of homeless roaming the library, but I guess they need a place to chill. This last time I went the police had to escort out a drunken, homeless couple. So I would keep the kiddos out of the lower level. Other than that, no problem!

I like this library. Nice selection of books, great workers, and a fantastic used bookstore
However, the wi-​fi here totally sucks. Also, you have to pay 50 cents to borrow a DVD. All the other libraries in SD, it’s free.
Also, there’s a lot of weirdos and funny looking people who patronize this library, lol.

This is a review for the children’s section only as I didn’t investigate the rest of the library.
The kids section is hugs compared to the San Marcos location. It’s bright, airy, and there’s room for the kiddos to move around.
I didn’t interact with the librarians or anything, so I can’t comment on that. We just went to look around and take out a few books.
Other Unilocalers have commented about the homeless outside the library. I didn’t see too many.
We’ll be back.

I like my library in Escondido. I go there often as I drive A LOT so need a LOT of Audiobooks. Thanks goodness Escondido Public Library has a lot of them. In the last year they also did a huge clean up on them and got rid of a lot of old stuff and have been getting a lot of new stuff. I just wish the new stuff had less sparkly vampires and more suspense without British accents. But, I can put in requests for things and I haven’t yet, so who am I to complain, right?
Anyway, I can check out a zillion audiobooks if I want (and sometimes I do!) and they charge 50 cents each. I am happy to pay the 50 cents because that means they are earning money for MORE! These books are due back in three weeks, but you can renew immediately for another three weeks if you want. I do all that renewy stuff online, which is handy. Paperbacks can be checked out with NO return date (I think they actually prefer you keep them heh) They have all of the usual library stuff and they have events that take place there. I always mean to hit up the big Scrabble tournament they do, but haven’t made it yet.
They also have public computers available for use, but I’ve never used them so don’t know the details.
If you keep an eye out, you’ll see that they REGULARLY do giant book sales (besides the small used book store that is always there) where you can buy barely used books for a quarter — even nice hardbacks if you like those. So, that can be really awesome.
next door is the Mathes Community Center and many community classes are held there. Check out the Escondido Recreation catalog for some of the awesome offerings. I attend a Tai Chi class there on Saturday mornings and it is REALLY awesome, taught by Nina Deerfield.
Overall, this library complex is a great resource for Escondido residents. They’ve been doing a lot of updates and yeah, there are a lot of homeless folks hanging around outside, but homeless folks need books too!

I give it a three cause there are weird people that go to this library. street walkers :)
Other than that i think they have a great selection and the staff is nice.

Ever since the upgrade of the facilities, the Escondido Public Library is a wonderful place to visit and get cheap entertainment!!! The video and DVD collection is a great place to spend some time in finding those rare gems that you can’t get at a DVD Box Express location. Careful with the foreign films… they are not rated and can be risqué and border crude and rude, even with english subtitles. I love the way you can also reserve books… they even call you and let you know that the book is waiting for you… and all you do is go over the reserve section and find your book! How easey is that!!!

Not my favorite local library to visit. I guess mainly because of the crowd that hangs around this library. If you must come to this library, I suggest coming before the local schools get out because the this place is noisy and swarmed with kids. Also, this library does enforce the NO eating rule so hide those snacks with the library police come around. Seems to be a crowded library with lots of folks just kinda handing out in the library all day with no place to go so it can be hard to find a place to sit so I camp out in the teen section (until after 3pm– see above noise comment with kids getting out of school). There is a nice little snack cart outside the library and a deli across the street that makes a yummy ruben sandwich if you need a study break. Just not my favorite library in the area but if you are in a bind check it out.

Great environment. I like the self help checkout system.
Somehow the librarians do a great job selecting new books and other material. I recommend a book to my sister and she asks me how did I hear about the book. The answer is the librarians discovered it and put it in the new book section.
I rent the audio books for when I drive. Sometimes when I get to a good part of a story, I hope for a traffic jam so I can finish it.

Easy checkout, decent natural lighting, adequate seating, and your bathroom handsoap smells of ALMONDS! I like!
An old man passing by laid a supersonic egg (farted audibly) just before I hit the submit button on this review. NASTY!

I love the Escondido library! I almost don’t want to write this review because then my secret is out! Did you know you can rent movies for 50 cents? audio books and music cds for 25 cents. Of course you most likely won’t find new releases here but its great for someone that likes the oldies but goodies! This library also has literacy services and classes for the public. I also enjoy their author book signing events that happen periodically! You should check it out but if you don’t whatever!!! Less competition in the dvd section for me!

The main Escondido Library was just renovated so you can ignore the «old and dingy» comments. It’s become a lot more quiet too with lots of big tables located next to brand new electrical outlets for laptop users in the Quiet Area at the back. Give it another chance. Most people love the improvements!