Sprucewood Library

I just received a follow up e-​mail from a comment card I filled out at Sprucewood Library, and that inspired me to write this review. I’m a lifelong, weekly, high volume EPL user. I brag to friends in other cities about how great our library system is. I truly love it. I can count on one hand the items I’ve wanted that they either didn’t have or couldn’t/wouldn’t get — one was an out of print dvd collection of Kenneth Anger’s work and the other was, fair enough, a large expensive textbook about evolution that was unlikely to get checked out again. I can’t remember anything else I’ve ever requested they didn’t get for me, though. I grew up going to the Woodcroft branch, graduated to downtown, and spent the better part of the last decade using the Londonderry branch. In 2010 I moved to Parkdale, and Sprucewood became my main branch, and I’ve fallen in love all over again. The library itself is what it is, a small local library that keeps a reasonably good selection on hand (and keeps it well organized in such a small space, I will add). The staff, on the other hand, are far above and beyond anything I’ve experienced at any other branch. They are SO friendly, and such a pleasure to deal with. If any EPL staff had reason to be fed up with the general public you’d expect it to be the one working on 95^th two blocks up from 118^th. This staff meets and exceeds the demands of the challenging area they service, and offer their customers not only respect, but a genuine welcome and friendly, professional service. And for all that great selection the other branches have, everything I want from them is always neatly filed on the hold shelf with my name on it when I get there. It’s the little library that could, and I love it.

Sprucewood is a small branch of EPL, and one of the oldest in the city. I don’t spend much time here. I went a few times to pick up holds and return things when the Highlands branch was temporarily closed. I can’t comment on the selection of books, but they have quite a few computers, about 6 – 10. The library is small. I’ve dealt with the staff a couple of times and they were always quite pleasant.