81st Avenue Branch Library

The library itself is nice. It’s clean and looks nice, the staff is friendly and helpful as well. The reason I’m giving it 3 stars is because of the patrons and the selection.
The first thing I noticed was how empty the bookshelves are, like the majority of the books were out for cleaning or something. Many of the rows had entire shelves that were empty.
However, the real reason for the 3 stars is the people that go here. While many of the people were quiet and curteous, there were far too many people walking around, talking loudly and acting as if they were at the mall. There were kids running around screaming, kids playing hide and seek, and kids being a general distraction. This is a library, not a free daycare.
I know this next one is not the libraries fault, but there was an ice cream truck that was either parked right outside, or kept circling the library for about an hour, playing the ice cream truck song.
I’m used to libraries being quiet places where one can go to study and concentrate. Not acting as a hangout spot with noise levels rivaling the food court at a mall and definitely not a daycare.

The BEST library that East Oakland has… WE are proud of our library. LOVE the staff that work hard and are so helpful in so many ways.
KEEP THIS LIBRARY SAFE AND CLEAN PEOPLE

This library is close and attravtive. It’s really close around my neighbourhood. I have been here twice I believe and they have a good amount of book collections for the size of the library. The only thing that kind of bothers me is that it isvery loud and full with children, well at least the times I went twice. Also the hours are very limited, I undertsand maybe it’s for a reason but I would like to have more time inside the library.
I like that side room where I can study and use my laptop and with free wi-​fi :) thanks.
I have experienced better libraries abviously but in Oakland I guess this is my favourite. I usually go to Alameda, Berkeley and San Francisco.