St Louis Public Library

Are we living in the ice age?
I love public libraries. I know that may offend some of you, but on a good day, I can sit in a library all day long and look at media. And it’s not limited to books and magazines. Many libraries have movies and music, too.
When living in the CWE, I was spoiled by my library branch. The Schlafly location is one of the nicest and convenient branches in the St. Louis system. I would stop in several times a month, sometimes for movies and books but mostly for cds.
Then we moved to Soulard, a major upgrade in area but a steep downgrade for my library visits. The closest branch to Soulard is the Barr location, a library sandwiched between a highway overpass and a gas station. It’s about as poorly located as a library can be. Also, sometimes the guard is watching the parking lot, which is in the back, but he’s not always out there. When he’s aloof, I am constantly looking over my shoulder when I get out of the car.
On Thursday, he was inside, and as soon as I got out of my car, a panhandler made a b line for me from the gas station across the street. Luckily, he was too far away to get my attention before I made it to the back door.
The library itself has many of the same perks as the other branches. However, it’s surprisingly small for as big as the building is. The computer area is pretty cramped. I usually have something in mind when I arrive, so my time there is limited.
Thursday was no different. I had requested a documentary from the Central branch to be sent to Barr. It had been a day and a half, so I assumed that my dvd had made the two mile tranistion. I was trying to avoid the inconvenience of finding parking downtown.
The librarian checked for my dvd, and she did not find it. The she informed me that I should be receiving a letter in the mail when my documentary had arrived. Not an e-​mail, a letter. And that was the end of our conversation.
I should have just went downtown.

I am a big fan of libraries. Most staff here at Barr branch is great ot work with, some not so much.

This was going to be where i popped my city library cherry. Alas, I didn’t even get to first base during that inaugural visit.
I had arrived on a weekday morning, only to find out that this branch didn’t open until noon. Granted, I should have checked the website for hours, but it just didn’t occur to me that a library would be closed at 11 a.m. Thus, I ran a quick errand, returned to wait in the parking lot, and then ventured inside at noon.
The entrance from the parking lot is daunting. The automatic door is nice, but you walk into a weird vestibule without adequate signage telling you that pretty much everything is upstairs.
At the information desk upstairs, I tried to get a library card, but they denied me because my driver license still has my previous address. It was within the city, but they still wanted a bill with my current address on it. I explained that all my bills were online and asked if i could show one via my phone, but they declined and demanded mail with my address on it. Any mail. That seems easy to fake, but whatever. I left and ended up getting my library card at a different branch.
I returned a week later because the Jefferson branch was close to an appointment. New card in hand, I took a seat in one of the upstairs rooms to the right at a round table and tried to find an outlet for my laptop. A girl (not a worker) pointed out that outlets were hidden under bookshelves along the wall, not at the tables like in other branches. Moreover, there weren’t many outlets, so if you couldn’t sit next to one or didn’t have an extra long cord for your laptop, you were out of luck.
Wifi is free and speed is ok, just like at most of the other city library branches. You’re not confined to a specific wifi seating area, either.
I haven’t wandered around much here. I know that there are a few computers with internet near the info desk (you need a library card to use them). The book selection looked decently fresh. Eh. *shrug*
This library really is just my backup for when my preferred branches are inconvenient on certain days.