West End Neighborhood Library

It’s nice to have a library branch in the West End since the Georgetown branch is a little out of the way… but this place is pretty rough. Most days I’ve been it’s basically a hangout for the homeless and the help is… slow. I was kinda hoping this place would have individual study rooms for practice GMATs — not so much. Plus the communal study room ends up feeling cramped because of the aforementioned bums. Adding a star for the decent DVD and ebook/​audiobook collections.

Sometimes you get the impression that this is a library/​homeless shelter, because the experience there is of having to nearly rub shoulders with sometimes foul smelling library users who are at the computers to play games while listening to loud music.
Like more and more libraries, it really doesn’t feel like a pleasant place to spend quiet time reading. It is the place to go if your computer is down and you need internet access and live in the area, but expect long waiting times for computers on most days, as there is only one table with PC stations, not all of which have full internet access. Library hours are not terribly generous.
This library is too small for the community. Low city budgets really show here.

This library is a convenient place for me but to be honest the convenience stops at the location. There are a lot of homeless people that hang inside to escape the elements, they really aren’t bothersome and they keep to themselves so in the end just don’t look towards the tables and you’ll never notice they’re there.
What really stinks about this library is the staff. They are the absolute worst! I have rented more DVDs from here that have been scratched beyond playable or missing discs (I would only the bonus disc and not the actual movie) which is very disappointing (I check them all before I leave now)… The staff is always unhelpful and if you’re ready to check out and they’re not to bad you’ll be waiting. Multi-​tasking is out of the question for them. I’ve waited numerous times to check out my books while the librarian sat on the phone on a personal call until she finally hung up — during that call she acknowledged me several times but wouldn’t check my books out…
I’ve returned books that they haven’t checked in to the point where I get overdue notices. To solve this I have to go scan the shelves and find the book to prove that I did return it, on time. This has happened no less than 5 times.
If you need help finding a book in the library — don’t bother! You’ll be better to just try to find it yourself. All but one of the staff members seem lost in the library and they’re generally unfriendly and unhelpful. I really despise when I have to go there — to avoid it I try to put books on hold at another library in DC — it’s worth the longer walk at this point!

The library is pretty small, and mainly only the first floor is where you want to be. There are meeting rooms and kids’ rooms upstairs. There are a lot of homeless people who like to come in from the cold, and as long as you’re okay with that, they’re not bothersome.
There are other libraries throughout the city that are bigger and may have bigger selections, but it’s sad to say that most are inhabitied by the homeless and may not have the book selection you’re looking for.

There’s always lots of Homeless People hanging out in there so it’s kind of scary and dirty.

It’s a small, neighborhood branch of the DC library system, so I set low expectations and wasn’t too disappointed.
Now, I’ve seen plenty of bums in Washington Circle at night, but otherwise it seems like the West End doesn’t have too many during the day. I think a lot of them must hang out here, because bums outnumbered everyone else almost 2-​to-​1. This is fine, I mean, I’m glad to see our public institutions embracing everyone. I was a bit distracted when I was trying to e-​mail a friend and some bum was standing behind me muttering about how today people are slaves to their computers.
Their collection of books is pretty small. They don’t have much by my favorite authors. Of course they can get books from the other DC libraries, or you can put things on hold elsewhere, and I’m sure there are other, better, branches. They have a good collection of travel books. Surprisingly, none of the bums were reading them. If I were the head librarian, I’d give them guides to San Francisco, where the climate, physically and politically, is probably more amicable.
Their computers are ancient and very slow. The same could be said about all the librarians.

So I made my way down to the West End Public Library today to pick up a copy of The Stand (Stephen King – I’m on a bit of a tear) that I had on hold (b/​c apparently there’s like, 1 copy in the whole of DC including Anacostia). An observation that I haven’t noticed upon my one other previous visit:
Rampant bums. Seriously. When I was a nanny I would take «my kid» up to the Montgomery County public libraries; the fam lived up by Chevy Chase and it was just more convenient than DC libraries. MoCo libraries are basically amazing. Clean. Organized. Well-​stocked shelves. And, most importantly, no vagrants. Right as I’m walking into the library I notice this guy doing some stretches outside the door. He didn’t look completely abnormal, not even that dirty really, but, um, as I got closer I realized that… well…he had a giant hole in the back of his pants and was obviously not wearing underwear. Obvious, b/​c one of his balls had decided to make a break for it out the back breezeway and say hello to the world. I nearly pissed my pants right there; which likely wouldn’t have made me that out of place, quite frankly. Inside, more bums. Which is fine b/​c I understand the need to get your read on (or free internet, whatevs). But holy crap.
Oh, and 2 stars b/​c the head librarian there is a complete and total idiot. Oivay.

I have found that when most branches are out of a particular book I’m looking for, I can often find it here at West End.
For coming through in the clutch, 4 stars.
Warning: Parking can be hard to come by here so either take the metro to Foggy Bottom and walk it or combine your library trip with a Trader Joe’s shopping trip and park your car at Trader Joe’s.

«Presidente» is one of the most famous bums at West End Library. You may recognize him by his thick hispanic accent and his agressive body odor. «Ten million liters of oil!» he hisses, poring over last week’s newspaper. He seems to lack any course of study, or coherence of thought, but he is full of ideas. Ask him sometime about «The greatest assasination,» and he will be glad to expound.
Last time I was there, he interrupted me with this pearl of wisdom: «Writers must be flexible, because the English language is a fluid tongue.» Later, he was leaning over the table toward me, whispering about his latest invention — a security «implant» for laptops — when the security guard boomed, «QUIET, YOU!»
At times, the bums here can be a distraction, what with their conspiracy theories and their smell… but overall, I find these homeless scholars to be inspiring. Everyone here, as I see it, is a hustler: desperate to learn about something that will make them rich or exonerate them from outstanding criminal charges. Everytime I sit down across from one of these guys, I am reminded to take nothing for granted, and to study /​write my ass off, lest I end up on the streets.