Pinole Library can be crowded while class is in session. Thankfully students are not allowed to…read morepark at the library. Why am I giving Pinole Library a 5 star review...the librarians are helpful when I needed help. I been going here since the 1990s. When I was a student at Pinole Valley I tend to hang out at the library while waiting for my mom to pick me up. Since Hercules Library open the Pinole Library still gets people to come inside. Keep up the good work Pinole Library

Beautiful Library and helpful, friendly Staff. Our granddaughter loves this library, has her…read morelibrary card, and has fun searching the Library.

On Thankful Thursday, 11/20/25, I have to reflect on all the libraries of my past that made me into…read morethe successful broadly educated person that I am today. Instead of doing a review for each library since it's been a period of time and changes obviously occur I am mentioning libraries I found useful in my growing up and college education process. Growing up I lived in El Cerrito and it was a comfortable walk with my mom and sometimes a sister or two to visit the El Cerrito Library. We each had our own library card and would pick out two or three books to check out. My favorite section the children's books. On occasion our family would visit the Richmond library for which my parents had a library card. My memories serve me that the Richmond library had records and movies that could be checked out. I browsed the books but rarely asked for one to be checked out for me. I did make requests for records that may not have been my parents choice. Once in college I became well versed at the Berkeley Main Library, the North Berkeley library, the University of California Berkeley library, the Boalt Hall Legal library, and the Contra Costa Court Reference library. I even spent hours in Sacramento at CSUS library. You probably can guess I was in need of all sorts of legal reference books to excel in classes, write briefs and papers. My thanks to each and every library as I passed all my law classes with straight A's. I have no idea of the quality of these libraries currently but I am THANKFUL that in the early 1970's all of these libraries allowed me access and were the quality that I depended upon.

What a special place. I haven't thought about family library events until recently after a few…read morefriends began sending me events happening in the area. We attended a Firefighter Storytelling Hour and it was so much fun. A few members of the local Fire Department came out on a weekend morning and introduced themselves, read a story, and we all sang "The Wheels on the Fire Truck". After, everyone had the opportunity to see/touch/take photos/and go into the truck with their respective groups. A wonderful start to the day. Checking out ccclib.org, you can categorize the library locations to find upcoming events/times. Today for example, there's a Therapy Dogs for Grown Ups hour. How fun! The staff is so friendly and there's lotsa parking/accessibility. Have you been to a recent event at the library worth sharing about? Would love to hear more as I begin this new quest of family fun!

There's nothing like a pandemic to make you realize how you take the simple things in life for…read moregranted. Like the local community library. It's been in the same modest building since 1965. I mean doing things digitally is convenient, but some things require a more tactile approach. That's why when Kensington Library was closed for months on end I missed my ability to thumb through the latest People magazine, browse the DVD collection, or ask the staff to hold a particular book that I was unwilling to buy on Amazon. Yep, going to the library post-COVID, whenever or whatever that looks like, is not to be taken for granted again. RELATED - Exploring this part of Contra Costa County? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2VyCP18

Very cute library on a hill. Always a parking spot, never too busy, quiet, cute kids play area.read more

I brought my baby to storytime at the Rodeo library and it was such a wonderful and welcoming…read moreexperience! In a world where there are very few baby friendly spaces, the librarian made us all feel valued and accepted. The library itself is charming, historic, and the book selection for children is excellent. We love the Rodeo library!!

Family friendly library…read more Closed on Monday though. At least one working computer and chair(s). Located up a small cement ramp. Update: New hours is closed on Tuesday too

Walking up a gentleman said food is ready. He was so kind. I came for the entertainment poetry,…read moredancers. Amazing. My daughter and cousin enjoyed themselves. The poetry about how far she came being Indian. Breath taking. The finale fashion show where this culture meets another one! Priceless! Everyone was laughing talking such a friendly event. Thanks IG.

Very polite, people comfortable environment very knowledgeable staff we will continue to visit the…read morePinole library

Located after the main drag, which makes parking easier and they do have parking in the back offers…read morewhat most libraries do and then some. It has an interesting history. It used to be a hospital back in the day, so it's space was planned out perfectly. The city and people of Albany are able to use the rooms within there to do a lot of different activities not just as a library, but as a service to the community itself. The last time I went in for one of these, not looking for a book was when we had the Medicare. Meeting where they explained how Medicare works and all the different parts of it to anybody who's headed to that age that needs to be educated on how it works. People hung onto every word of it right there. They usually side rooms for wonderful things like that it's very informative. The library itself isn't huge like some public libraries in big cities, but it offers everything that everyone would need for a small community surrounding it. And I like the people that work there they're very courteous and helpful. It's always clean and there's plenty of space and I see all the tables are occupied by kids students and adults all working side-by-side together going through their books writing their papers all the different activities that are found in the library. It's a very modern design of a building and it offers so much to anybody that comes in there. Check their schedule of events there might be something for you.

I love a good library, I really do. And I was hoping to come here and find a study room or…read moresomething and be able to study. However this place is so small it was clearly created for the non-urban environment. What I mean is there were no study room. Also, there weren't enough seats to fit all the people who want to come to study. And that was frustrating because I spent a good amount of time walking around trying to find a place and the seats that were empty for social distancing reasons were not being used. I understand that but on a Sunday I was really hoping that wouldn't be an issue. The next thing is that there are tons of kids in there and although I'm a teacher, I choose not to hang around with kids when I'm not teaching. So that's just something I didn't know. I wanted to come here because they have more hours than Oakland. And they are closer to me than Oakland a Alameda. And Oakland library is filled with people who are homeless we're trying to stay out of the elements and I really get that. And honestly it wasn't a problem, besides a dirty table but I found another one that was just fine. But there needs to be a place where someone can study and not be distracted. I know I'm not the only one who believes that because another guy came in while I was there wanting a study room And was told that there were no study rooms. I can't imagine a Library doesn't have steady rules but I guess they exist. So it was disappointing. But they did get a extra star because they had a book giveaway of band books so that's why they have two stars I got some band books because other than that the trip was useless. I have high expectations because I went to Albany high school and I know that Albany has resources that other places don't have. Clearly they did not use them in this library, so while I may be an improvement over the one they had before, it is not a destination place for anything.

It's clean, easy to park, neighborhood is good, the book shelves are immaculate. We were in the…read moremeeting room which sufficed for our needs.

It's a small library, but the Wi-Fi is very reliable and there are plenty of outlets at each table…read more I also found the staff to be exceedingly helpful. If you're wandering around looking confused, they are more than happy to make sure your questions are answered. Side note, prints are 15 cents per page as of January 2022 (double-sided or single-sided, doesn't matter), however, you receive your first 5 pages free! Make sure to bring a piece of mail with your name on it to verify your address when getting a new library card.

I have nothing against community gatherings, but a loud concert inside the library is hard to wrap…read moremy head around. Gone are the days when one can find a quiet place to sit at the library at any time. But I get it, it's promotes community gatherings and there are no alternative facility to host the concerts. I'll be sure to check on Benicia's Event calendar before visiting the library.

So this is the best public library in opinion, because the customer service is key!…read more The librarians are always helping me out whenever I'm looking for any books for my classroom, and they have the best selection of kids books too! The books for sale are cheap and offer a wide variety of hardcovers, anywhere from a $1-$4 bucks depending on new the book is. I always seem to find something to take back with me from their sales books! Gina and the folks at BPL are the best! Overall a 20 out of 10!