What's your favorite library branch?

[Anonymous]

Wow, this really puts the FCPL to shame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My favorite is the Chevy Chase MD branch. I dont like the Chevy Chase DC one. Little Falls is also great.

I like them small and cozy feeling, like a house. Dislike how the new Silver Spring one feels now, but my college age kid likes to work there- good vibes, they say.

Many of them newer open concept libraries are hard to work in tour read in because the sound carries so well and echoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I so miss the hours I spent at the Reston Regional Library with my kids when they were little. As another poster said, we would make a day out it - playground, lunch out, then library, then home for naps. Of course, now that branch is sadly not one I want to go to anymore due to the homeless men who hang out inside and out and make rude remarks to patrons.

I've been hearing about the downgrade of the Reston library since ~2017 and it's really sad. It's a shame other families can't have a similarly lovely experience.

[Anonymous]

Kensington Noyes Library. Plus the cute park nearby.

[Anonymous]

I've been working remotely about 10 years and at one point (pre-Covid) I started visiting a different library in DCPL one day a week just to mix things up. A few of my favorites, some of which have already been mentioned:

MLK -- amazing since the renovation, don't skip the roof deck on nice days (tables in shade so it's functional for work on a computer)

Southwest Branch -- beautiful building, walkable to food at the Wharf, also recommend the Rubell Museum just a block away for a brain break

Cleveland Park -- bright and clean with lots of windows, I like their study chairs (upholstered chairs with attached tables and outlets built in, and you can get a delicious and very affordable lunch across the street at Vace

Woodbridge -- my favorite library in NE, very similar to Cleveland Park in terms of feel but much easier to reserve a study room if you need a private room and just generally less crowded. Main downside compared to the ones mentioned above is that it is not metro accessible, but you can reach it easily by bus and there is a ton of parking in the neighborhood.

Mount Pleasant -- best of the "retrofit" updates where they retained a lot of the old building. Admittedly my favorite part of this library is the children's section (potentially true for all of these but especially this one) on the top floor, but I also like the adult study areas

There are lots of other good ones but these are my favorites where I will go out of my way to visit them because they have such good vibes. I live on the Hill and so the libraries I visit most often are NE and SE which are both okay but honestly not the most conducive getting work done. I can spend literally the entire work day at these other libraries where I can do 3 hours max at the libraries on the Hill (they are just small and often over-crowded with much more limited workspaces, especially at SE).