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    Woodside Library

    4.0 (12 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

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    Reading room

    Great building, great collection of book and great ambiance and environment for learning. Beautiful library with a cozy patio, It's a place for people who are in love with books .

    Front entrance.
    Bradley N.

    The Woodside Public Library got a major renovation and facelift in spring 2016 and now, after an intense series of soaking rains and record-breaking winter storms, another season of spring is slowly starting to make itself felt. This is especially the case if you happen to be sitting outside in 65 degree weather and bright afternoon sunshine in the library's wonderful native plant display gardens and outdoor seating and reading area. Located behind the main building, it is accessible only through the library itself and is a real island of solitude even by Woodside's fairly relaxed standards. The free wifi Internet connection allows for easy access to all that the World Wide Web has to offer, while just inside there are plenty of books, magazines, films, and music to check out, in addition to clean restrooms and a water bottle refill station. Sure, most libraries in San Mateo county offer similar ammenities as Woodside, which is small and quaint and not overwhelming in the slightest. But somehow, sitting under an umbrella on an outdoor deck enjoying the sounds of birds in the trees and planning out a weekend's worth of adventures, you think a little more highly of Woodside Public Library than might otherwise be the case. Silicon Valley has many facets to it, but the excellent public library system may be one of the least known aspects that outsiders might not expect. Check out this branch location, or the one nearby in Portola Valley, the next time you're passing through. You just might find yourself having a lot of fun in the process!

    One of the shadier seating areas in the native plant garden.
    Camelia N.

    While San Mateo County has an admirably rich range of neighborhood public libraries to choose from, including an outstanding main branch headquarters in downtown Redwood City, Woodside PL is unique in that it sports an extensive native plant garden attached to the back of the library. It contains beautiful redwood trees at one end of the garden and some lovely manzanitas near the back entrance. There are wooden benches as well as metal tables and chairs (for adults and kids sized, too), and on the other side of one fence, there are several horses whose snorting and whinnying you can occasionally hear if you're sitting out in the gardens. The free wifi Internet access also works in the garden, so this is a perfect spot for catching up on mail, listening to a podcast (softly of course), taking some photos, or renewing your books, DVDs, or music CDs for another few weeks. I often order books from other libraries or through the Link+ interlibrary loan system, especially knitting and crocheting books or DVDs of recent TV series I like, and I have them sent here for easy pick-up on my way home from work. The library opens at 11am (except Sundays) and closes either at 5pm or 7pm, so people come with young kids or if they have a few hours of quiet time to read and enjoy the natural beauty and quiet of the native plant garden. You could hardly guess that you're only about a mile away from I-280 and all the commuting traffic on the Peninsula. It is part of the charm of Woodside, and the community is grateful for such a beautiful little branch library as part of the local amenities. Note: Blue House Farm, a wonderful organic farm and strawberry grower in Pescadero, on the San Mateo County coast, also has a CSA pick-up location here. We were members for several years, and it's ideal for getting fresh vegetables, fruit, honey, bread, and eggs (the last 3 being add-ons) during the week if you aren't able to visit their stand at the San Mateo College Saturday farmers' market.

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    7 months ago

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    7 months ago

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    1 year ago

    My favorite library located in a natural place. Huge shortcoming is that it closes so early during the weekends. :(

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    1 year ago

    Love this library, it's a little gem. Great location and love their surrounding ambiance!

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    3 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    14 years ago

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    15 years ago

    Just came to see beautiful fall colors a few weeks ago! GREAT spot!! I didn't even go inside! :)

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    Ask the Community - Woodside Library

    Review Highlights - Woodside Library

    Woodside Library is part of the San Mateo County libraries, and the best part is that all Bay Area residents can get a library card here even if you don't live in San Mateo County!

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    Redwood City Public Library - Schaberg Branch - Packed storytime on Saturdays

    Redwood City Public Library - Schaberg Branch

    3.8(8 reviews)
    2.7 mi

    This is a cute branch library tucked away in the neighborhood. It's right next to a school and a…read moresmall plaza. There is some seating here and I did see some computers and printers available. Half of the library is dedicated to kids so there are a ton of kids and some young adult books. There is a decent selection of fiction and non fiction here, more than I was expecting for such a small branch library. I did find some interesting books and I was able to use the self checkout with no issues since I already had a Redwood City library card. They also had a small selection of newspapers and magazines as well!

    This address is for the Schaberg branch, not the big main library downtown…read more We come here for baby storytime (2nd and 4th Saturday of the month) since it's the only one in Redwood City with weekend storytime for babies. The rest are all weekday mornings and probably geared towards the stay-at-home-mom crowd. The location is also local for us so we walk here when the weather is good. It's in the middle of a residential neighborhood (West Roosevelt) and near a few businesses (a shopping center with one of our favorite Sushi places, Oh Baby Sushi, a mediocre Rite Aid and Key Market, a neighborhood grocery store that has very good bbq tri-tip sandwiches on the weekends). Parking is usually not a problem, even if you have to walk a little from parking near houses. Compared to the congested nightmare that is downtown, the parking situation here is easy peasy and best of all, free. Overall, the library is decent but small, as expected with a branch building. That said, there's a pretty big baby / kids section with tons of picture books on display and pretty good selections. The storytime lasts until the kids are tired of listening and they go through lots of books in one sitting. There is also a reading program here that logs books read (storytime readings count) and you get incentives for # of books read, such as meals at local businesses like the Old Spaghetti Factory. The downside to having a big children's section is loud children running around if you're trying to get quiet work done. Young adult novels are also plenty. If you have kids this would be a good place to bring them to kill some time and get hooked on reading. Adult / regular bookshelves are less plentiful here so if that's what you're looking for, you're better off at the downtown library or at the San Mateo city library -- both are huge in comparison and have way more seating / workspace.

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    Redwood City Public Library - Schaberg Branch - They bring out baby toys after Wednesday's story time. Thank you librarians!!

    They bring out baby toys after Wednesday's story time. Thank you librarians!!

    Redwood City Public Library - Schaberg Branch
    Redwood City Public Library - Schaberg Branch - Best seat in the house!

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    Best seat in the house!

    Cañada College

    Cañada College

    4.2(50 reviews)
    1.3 mi

    I enjoyed my time here, as a student, when I took a public speaking class in the summer of 2023. I…read morecrafted 5 fine speeches, but unfortunately I never got to deliver them in public (my conversations and statements only got recorded on wiretapped devices).... As my friend Antonio Lopez (mayor of East Palo Alto) reminded me in January of 2024, you'll get resistance any time you try to do good. Yeah, I guess that's how this world works, isn't it? So sad, but true. That's what history has taught us, with a patriarchal power structure, isn't it? Hey, on a positive note, I'm still alive today! Made it much longer than I thought, give the excessive criminal activities thrown at me from all directions. When I was at Canada College during the summer of 2023, I was thinking how fun it'd be to take a debate class... well, my goodness, after endless debates over the past 18 months, I think the combination of my street and classroom skills really paid off. As far as degrees of completion, I am still waiting on my honorary PhDs from several universities... unless they've been delivered to my Redwood City condo without me knowing?

    Terrible online orientation. This school presents itself as a good choice for online students, but…read morewhat they don't tell you is that you have to show up in person before you can register for classes AND before you can collect your financial aid. The in-person requirements make sense, but they must include that information during the online orientation. I had to drive three hours to this school, last minute, for identity verification. After I got back home, I discovered I had to drive all the way back to hand in my documents at the financial aid office. Communication with Counseling and Admission and Records is a slow process. There are too many issues to cover, but I'm left with a sense that this school has run out money to pay their staff. It's a nice looking school, but I suspect they may be going through some serious budgeting issues, because they seem to struggle to keep business moving.

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    Cañada College - For students looking to save money on their undergraduate education, Cañada is the top choice. Our transfer rate is fantastic.

    For students looking to save money on their undergraduate education, Cañada is the top choice. Our transfer rate is fantastic.

    Cañada College - Cañada's new state-of-the-art library provides students with an academic advantage.

    Cañada's new state-of-the-art library provides students with an academic advantage.

    Cañada College

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    Cecil H Green Library - David Rumsey Map Center - a bit hard to find!

    Cecil H Green Library

    4.0(16 reviews)
    5.0 mi

    My friend and I stopped here while visiting Stanford. You have to sign in and give them a bunch of…read moreyour information, take a photo, and get a guest badge. This place has better security than many companies around the area The library is nice. We enjoyed sitting in the reading rooms and doing some work. If I were a student here I would probably come here sometimes to do some deep studying.

    Earlier today while I was studying for my finals, I noticed a man staring into my cubicle, which…read moremade me quite uncomfortable. He then came around the corner to stare at me and my work before telling me that I was not allowed to have food in the library. This person did not say hi or excuse me, just began to berate me to make sure I knew he had the power. I did not know the food policy as I am a first-year student and do not go to the green library often. I normally go to the East Asia Library and this is not an issue there. I responded with "okay," he then preceded to repeat over and over again that I couldn't have food, saying "Stanford policy states...." He also said, "you know, this isn't a restaurant." I was understanding at this point, but I began to get frustrated as he was aggressively repeating that I couldn't have food. I was only drinking an energy drink at the time to get me through the day, but I still understood to an extent. He then told me I had to throw it away, which I did, but he continued to stare at me. Additionally, the food cost me $20, so if he had asked me to put it in my backpack, I would have been more than happy to oblige. If he had approached me in a nicer way, I would have been more than happy to put the food away and then I know to never bring food in again. I currently pay for my own tuition and food here, so as a student working minimum wage, I cannot afford to just "throw it away," but this person did not seem to care. If he works at a University library, he should know how to talk to students without being belligerent and patronizing. Because of this instance, I am never going to go into green library again, I'd prefer the East Asia Library because the people there are much friendlier. This person was a smaller man with glasses and was working at around 4 pm 3/18. I have never been more humiliated and looked down upon in my life. The same thing happened to my roommate after she told him she would put the drink away in her bag, but he was rude to her as well. I think green library needs to rethink who you hire and how the workers treat students.

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    Cecil H Green Library - Construction is going on.

    Construction is going on.

    Cecil H Green Library - Public computers

    Public computers

    Cecil H Green Library - Cool seat!

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    Cool seat!

    Woodside Library - libraries - Updated May 2026

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