The library has a great kids section with a play area - it's an excellent place to meet other…read moreparents.

Located in the town center of Shrewsbury, this newly renovated and redesigned library has a very…read morewelcoming floor plan. The 1903 original library building is blended seamlessly with the newer structure. As you enter, there are many wide open spaces to sit and read throughout the library. For the children, there is a large children section which has a lot of fun animal characters. We were visiting in the winter so the outdoor area was closed but it did look very nice. The parking lot is good but I would imagine that it would always be great to have more parking. Finally, the book self-check-out system is definitely state of the art and there is an electronic drop of book drop off at the main entrance. The architect, Michael Pagano, and the entire library team did an amazing job with this new town community hub. Don't miss the "Let your quest be for knowledge" inscription on the stained glass in the 2nd Floor staircase of the original 1903 Library building.

Love this little town library. It has changed quite a bit throughout the years, but for the better…read more This is a great historical spot, with many pieces of the town and such throughout the building. There has been quite a few building upgrades which were much needed. They were also done without affecting the beautiful stone exterior and the old windows of the building. Inside is cozy and unique. There are three floors. You walk in the main entrance to the adult and sections on both sides. There is a balcony above where many more books are located. If you go downstairs, there is a great children's section. The staff is all very sweet and accommodating. They are all there to help and are great with recommendations or with locating material. They do many activities and meetings in this building. They also have passes available for local museums and parks. There was a major technology upgrade as well. Gone are the days of the massive card catalog with the lengthy drawers of cards stating the location and reference information of the books. There are now several laptops you can borrow for the sitting area or look up and get your book checked out all via computer programs. It's a great spot to bring a coffee in and browse or read for hours. Love this little place. Ps- it also doesn't get crazy crowded and there doesn't seem to be many unwanted visitors that pass through here.

Sandstone High schools…read moreand towers The Gale Free Library is a stunning and amazing building indeed. The building is actually called The Damon Memorial Building and until 1926 housed both the high school and the library. The high school received it's own building and the Gale Library took over the entire building. The library is made of lovely granite from local quarries with brown sandstone trim and the roof is black and red slate from the state of Maine. The library was designed by the famous Boston architect Stephen Earle in the Romanesque Revival Style and even includes a clock tower. The money for the library was donated by Sam and Susan Damon Gale and was opened in 1888. This was the great era of library building and the inside is as impressive as the outside. A stunning and wonderful building, libraries like this will never be built again.

Perhaps I miss understood the situation. I only relaying what my son told me. I believe may be the…read moreday that she asked him to go elsewhere to read perhaps it was busy, which would explain asking him to go to a more private area. We still go here in the librarians have been great event tolerated my sometimes noisy baby in the play area.

Dee K has done 20 reviews on yelp and 15 of them are One star reviews so you can ignore her…read more This library is nice enough. Good toddler and pre-schooler programs. Friendly staff. Free wi-if. Basically everything you expect at your average library. Both the kids area and the teens area have double doors so if there's a function in those rooms it's really not that loud.

Elsa Anna and…read morePearle The original library building in Dudley was opened in 1901 and served well for decades. But it was becoming increasing obvious that as the town grew so did the need for a larger library. So a lovely new library was opened in the year 2010. It's named after Pearl Crawford, a brilliant woman in the town that could apparently do just about everything. Pearl passed away in 1971 but now her memory lives on in a library that she would have loved. The library is very modern and spacious and gives the appearance of one long room. But in reality there are separate rooms off to the side of the main area. The library has a really cool internet café room with pithy quotes on the walls and a booth that looks more at home in a real café. It also has a wonderful children's room with all kinds of cool things to read, play and look at. There was even a visit from Queen Elsa and Princess Anna while we were there. A modern, friendly and very, very useful and convenient library. It's easy to see this library serving the town for at least the next century or two.

A modern library! It's located across from a sporting field (couldn't tell the sport but I could…read moreheard the cheers) and next to a school, the Stafford Library looks like a solid investment from the town. There is parking on either side of the building, and a drop off circle in front. There are some nice benches around the circle as well. There is a garden on the left (although not so much at the beginning of April). Inside there's a community area with books to purchase from the friends of the library, and books to check out. Many books. Books on both wings with checkout in the middle, and plastic shopping baskets are available for use. There is a genealogy research room, and lots of computers for the public. The atmosphere is quiet but not oppressive. The librarians were very friendly and kind.

Libraries are dying because of Amazon. Right?…read more Or are libraries dying because we have to resort to Amazon to make up for the shortcomings of the library? I'm a student, and I'm cheap. So I called my library looking for a $30 book that I didn't feel like buying. I was told that they didn't have it, but that they could order it for me from a nearby library and they would have it "by the end of the week". This was 10/23. The end of the week was 10/26, and no book came in. I received no phone call at any point. I called again on the 31st to make sure that they had in fact ordered the book (because the woman I spoke to the first time barely collected any information from me). I was told they had ordered the book, but that it didn't say it was shipped yet. I was told it usually takes two weeks to get a book. I called back today, 11/8, and the book is still not only NOT there, it still hasn't even been shipped. I'm on a fairly tight deadline, and I called EARLY to request the book. I told the woman I spoke with to cancel my order. I told her I was a student and on a deadline and had been waiting, and had been told I would have it sooner. She was not apologetic in the slightest. Nor did she even ask me if there was anything else she could help me with...she didn't even say goodbye or anything, she just hung up. (And don't get me wrong--I wasn't giving her an attitude or anything. Although I'm pissed off now, I was very personable on the phone.) I'm buying the book from Amazon, and guess what? It's going to be shipped to my door TOMORROW. THIS is why libraries are dying.

Everyone that we have interacted with within the library have been kind and helpful. I want to…read moreespecially name Aidan as being kind and engaging. Always so kind and asking questions of my young granddaughter and explaining what he's doing. So kind. The Library itself is always clean, with lots of open spaces, charitable programs, WONDERFUL programs to join for adults & children. I've taken a few myself and enjoyed each course

Libraries and lawyers…read more The very first West Woodstock library was started was back in 1806. As usual the books moved around to different places over the years and decades but eventually found a home in small building that was originally used as a law office. Not a very large building but the law office served its purpose well. The books ended up moving into their permanent home in the present library but a wise person decided that the cool little law building should move along with the books. So now the cool little library has another cool little building attached to it. Not a whole lot of room inside the library, kind of reminds me of a big hallway, but it has to be one of the coolest little libraries anywhere. The library and law building serves the community well and all kinds of events and programs take place here. No, it doesn't have a whole lot of books inside but it does have a very cool librarian, some great history and a whole lot of uniqueness.

We take our two kids (almost 3 and 1 1/2) here to Storytime regularly and to other events too and…read moreit is always wonderful. Sue, the librarian is amazing! She always has wonderful themes and activities for the kids and they LOVE it. Storytime is well attended by other kids and parents and it and the library itself are such a wonderful resource for the community. It's the kind of place you dream of taking you kids too. Great books, wonderful environment and dedicated and talented staff - all for free!!! We love our wonderful little library!

A very versatile…read morelibrary The Bracken Memorial Library actually is two libraries in one. It serves as the high school library for the Woodstock Academy but also functions as one of the four public libraries for the town of Woodstock. It's a modern and very pleasant library with a cool balcony and lots of room to spread out. A rather unusual floor plan makes finding stuff easy and there are little nooks and corners that allows you to find a place to study or relax. Some cool old pictures of rather stoic looking fellows grace the walls. The librarian there was exceptional friendly and seemed to enjoy telling us about the history of the town and academy. The old, original field stone library is just around the corner and can still be observed. This is a library that will continue to serve the academy and people of the town for many decades to come.