I really love this library location! I attended a toddler reading session today (Monday). The…read moreseparate playroom is really nice & the kids area itself has a lot of books that are great. I felt safe while in the kids area - noting that since it's DT. Parking was a breeze- I found a spot around the corner with $1/hour rate. I'd attend this every week if baby sessions were available on weekends! But for those that parents that happen to be available on weekdays, this seems like a gem.

I have been to public libraries in 5 other large cities in the US west. This is easily the worse…read more It started with the 8 or 10 men hanging around on the street near by. Then the three men hanging around the entrance. I was parked in a lot that required payment. I tried to pay but failed. Inside, a lady was extremely helpful with me looking at old copies of the Albuquerque Journal. When I returned to the Parking, I had a ticket. I immediately called the out of state phone number telling them the text system didn't work and I offered to pay the $6. Very quickly she told me to call Disputes and hung up. So I went back to talk to the people at the Main Desk about how confusing the parking was for a first time visitor. Zero customer service, helpfulness or give a darn. Only in a library, could you treat customers like this and remain in business!!!!!

I just want to say thank you very, VERY much to the folks at the Montgomery Park branch (Erna…read moreFergusson) of the Albuquerque Public Library! I was in Albuquerque earlier this month and needed to check my email, as I'd been out of internet range for the past week. I stopped in the library and inquired about the procedures for using the public computers. All the staff were extremely friendly; they were very hospitable and explained that anyone who carried an Albuquerque public library card could use the PCs at no charge, and the application for a library card was quick and easy. Within minutes, they had processed my application and I had a library card in hand! I was able to log on to a PC and go through all my emails (both for work and home) within an hour. It was such a relief to reconnect to the outside world while I had some free time, and take care of a few projects that needed to be done before I returned home. The librarians were very conscientious and reminded me that, since I was using a public computer, they did not recommend I access any extremely private information (such as a bank account). I appreciated their thoughtfulness in helping me protect my identity. The library itself is an extremely welcoming space, with a glass front entryway and wide areas for bookshelves and reading tables. Its location is perfect for a neighborhood library: just off a main street, a block from a lovely park, and next to a senior activity center. I have always loved libraries, and this experience is just one of many pleasant hours I've spent within their walls. Thank you, Erna Fergusson Public Library, for your hospitality and your wonderful environment!

I only recently discovered this gem, but it's instantly become one of my local go-to spots…read more - It's a good sized library with plenty of tables and computers, which is especially good for social distancing. - They have a diverse selection of adult and children's books and media (DVDs and audiobooks). I like the little anime and manga corner in the kid's section. They also have convenient book returns outside and in the entrance way for quicker drop offs. - They hold weekly and monthly events, such as story time and yoga. - Clean bathrooms and hand sanitizer are available. - The staff are friendly and helpful. - And it's located next to a park with a beautiful view of the mountains, so if you're anything like me, it's a perfect combo for reading outside. Happy reading!

This quiet clapboard home pays tribute to a fine American - Ernie Pyle. His quiet efficient spirit…read moredominates this place. Super, intelligent librarians, a limited supply of books, but just a perfect stopover if you are on Girard, SE near Gibson. I dare you to stump one of the librarians with any question about the Albuquerque Library System.

This is one of my favorite libraries in town. Not the biggest, but certainly one that has character…read moreand a great story. I do enjoy the staff pics.

It is clean and spacious, with about a dozen computers. I'm guessing that it is nice for kids…read more Not many of the books I've been looking for were available. The branch on San Mateo May be better for adults.

So I recently found out about an app called Libby that lets you rent books via the app and delivers…read morethem to your kindle to read. You can also rent audiobooks. In order to use the app you need to have a library card. Since I'm an avid kindle reader/Audible user I was super excited about this and wanted to start using it right away! I headed to the library and signed up for a card which was extremely fast and easy. Not only were the staff members that helped me very friendly and welcoming, but they were super knowledgeable about Libby and other similar apps. They gave me info on how to sign up and start using the app and gave me a digital media guide with detailed instructions on using the app. It was so helpful! I was only inside the library for less than 20 minutes but it seemed clean and spacious. Definitely looked like a nice spot to study or just relax and read.

The library itself seemed fine, we did not utilize it as much as we are not local, just here for a…read morefew months while my husband is on a contract for Work. My issue here was with the baby/toddler story time. In the state we were before, the libraries we visited, had realistic expectations of BABIES during baby/toddler story time. They were allowed to get up and move around, crawl, but here at this library, they are expected to be little robots and sit in place and not be loud. On our last visit, my heart absolutely broke for a little boy who was a little older (but still younger than 5). He was there with his mom and younger siblings and after the lady leading baby story time finished the book she was reading, she called this little boy out in front of EVERYONE and told him he needed to be quiet while she was reading so the other babies could listen. Mind you, I was sitting 5 feet away from him, and didn't even realize that he was making any noise while she was reading. I even asked my husband who was right there with me afterwards and he said he didn't notice him at all either. This little boy looked like he was going to cry after that and completely shut down, not able to enjoy the rest of the activities. He wasn't even disruptive and the lady leading storytime made it seem like the babies she was reading to were inconvenienced by him. With that being said, maybe books that are age-appropriate for babies and toddlers should be read instead of short stories which are too long for their attention span. This was not the first incident where it seemed very unrealistic for children of this age being told to be quiet or sit still, but this was the final straw, and we will not return to this baby story time because of it.

The library is currently using all safe practices to keep everyone safe during Covid. They have…read moresanitizer at the door and are limiting the amount of people that can go in. I've been here every week since March and feel safe getting books for my daughter!

Clean well maintained library. Perfect place to study. Clean bathrooms. And right next to bus stops…read morefor convenience.

Beautiful library with wide, bright, open spaces…read more During the pandemic, desks and computers are not available. It is not a place to sit and study right now. I would return for the programs. They seem to have a great focus on children programs. I'd also return for taking pictures with the beautiful indoors space & light. Also, this is my first time visiting and there were homeless people waiting at the door for opening hours.

Lovely building. Good location. Ample parking…read more But there's a LOT of chatter in the middle of the building and no place to go to escape it. Also no tables to work at. Or, rather, there are plenty of tables WITH power outlets but they ALL face directly into the blinding sun and so are basically useless most days. Not sure who thought blinding sun was conducive to studying but it's a critical flaw of this library. There IS a quieter corner of the library. It's totally unused today but it is reserved for children, of which there are none. Move the chatter to the isolated, unused room and block the sun and this would be a fine library.

I've been patronizing the Taylor Ranch Branch Library for more than five years, since moving to the…read morearea. It's located between two well maintained wide parks on either side. Lots of shady trees. The play equipment is updated and interesting. The dog park below is well filled with about a dozen large dogs and owners on weekend mornings. There's a hiking trail that goes by it to the Boca Negra way station. From the parking lot is a view of the Rio Grande Valley and Sandia Mountains. Whoever reviewed the "staff is worse than ever" may not have greeted them with the usual, "Hi, could you help me?" Also, last winter, was very tough and scary for everyone. In any case, I believe the librarians sincerely care about what they do, following all the protocols since Covid started. They decorate the walls and shelf tops with interesting bibliophile things to catch browser interest. They change the library displays with enough regularity. The large periodical section is still kept up, as well as oversized books, non-fiction and fiction. Ask a librarian for help finding books in your genre of interest, s/he will help. They love books here! Before the renovation, they had a calendar of additional activities, like reading time for preschoolers, meetups for needle buffs, book discussion groups, and tech help for those wanting to expand their horizons with Kindles, tablets, laptops, etc. Currently, the Taylor Ranch Library is undergoing an expansion. Lots of dust in the air and shelves near the construction work! All the usual library displays are down. Meanwhile I can still order books for hold from all over the library system online and expect that I'll get a buzz on my cell phone when they're on the HOLDS shelf at Taylor Ranch with my name tagged.

ca. 630 BC the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal became indeed the most powerful ruler the world had seen…read moreuntil that age. Before him, rulers such as Sargon the great (Akkadian), Gilgamesh (Sumerian), and even Hammurabi (Babylonian), although having conquered more land, and having done it before him, couldn't even come close to his greatness. The reason - he became the first ruler of an empire to recognized the value in learning how to read and write. He fell so in love with acquiring knowledge, so much in love with the written word, he decided to collect copies of all the clay tablets around the known world - an impossible and insurmountable task, but one the benefits of which still impact us today, for his was the idea, in his megalomania and in all his power, of building one of the first (and greatest up until then) libraries in the world - the Library of Nineveh. Today, we are not emperors, kings, or queens, but we hold equal, if not more, power, as Ashurbanipal understood it. Power does not reside in arms, and armies, or in brute strength; power resides in the mind. True power resides in knowledge - for a man, or woman, can move armies with just words. A man, or a woman, can change history by enlightening people's minds with his/her acquired wisdom. Following the great tradition of the library of Nineveh, or the great library of Alexandria, the Zimmerman library at UNM offers a gateway to pure, unadulterated wisdom. I particularly become fond of its Center for Southwestern Research archives collection. Here, not only will you find documents that retrace the history of the region since before the arrival of the first Europeans to the new world, but also more contemporary elements, elements you're probably reading about in class, or would just love to touch and hold in your hands. While doing research for a film I'm working on, I got to touch a 500 year old Spanish book of records with the genealogical information for the first village Founded by free and escaped African Slaves in the new world (in Mexico), a village probably founded before the birth of The United States itself. I got to touch and analyze the records of a store clerk that sold items to the Confederacy, as well as letters, the actual letters, by Coretta Scott King, the honorable Elijah Mohammed, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rachel Welch, and many others historical figures we only read about or watch in movies. The items in their collection are priceless. They are items that should be housed in a museum - and eventually will be - in the mean time, if you're a student at UNM or just someone like me, traveling from place to place while working, make a stop at the Zimmerman library a priority. As a matter of fact, if you visit New Mexico for it's history whether Anasazi, Pueblo, Spanish, or Western, and you don't visit the Zimmerman archives, you're doing yourself a disservice. Additionally, Samuel, Chris, Nancy, Marnie, and the many other archivist working there are some of the most amazing most knowledgeable people you'll meet in New Mexico. They have incredible passion for what they do and are more than willing to help you with and accommodate any request - I can truly say, out of all the great times I've had in 5 months I've spent in New Mexico, I've had the best times researching the UNM archives at the Zimmerman library thanks to them.

They have a huge selection of books and the staff is knowledgeable and able to help you. Also…read moreoffers tutoring services on the third floor and has Starbucks downstairs.