La Crescenta Library - La Crescenta-Montrose, California

D. de Silva

I wish I could give this place 10 stars, they deserve it. Lovely staff, and beautiful space. This library is great, and serves the community well. It is always clean, warm, and welcoming. The team takes pride in the appearance of the library, and the experience of the patrons.

The negative reviews of the library are a bit unfounded in my opinion. One is racist (claiming that no one spoke English well enough), the other is ignorant placing the county wide COVID related masking requirement on the staff (whether you believe in the mandate or not, it is not the decision of a local branch), the other is rating them low because they had to be accountable for the water damage they did to the book, and the other is a profile that just gives out negative review only. I would take those ratings with a grain of salt given the context.

Back to the positive/relevant, this branch has a ton of community events (relevant to different age groups and interests). We love the Storytime and cultural celebrations each month (Woman’s Day was Fire!!!).

They have a great children’s area. It’s half the library. They have plenty of study rooms, and a large community room (typically used for events). The building itself is modern and well designed. They have amazing lavender at the entrance welcoming you.

Awesome teen section, and then of course the adult. Well identified categories and subjects. You can find your way easily, or be guided by the team.

The staff is always so kind and welcoming. We love the librarian that leads the Storytime events. William the children’s library is great. The front desk/checkout folks are awesome. They have three self checkouts…some books are tricky by the staff is always there to help. They commonly have free resources (masks, bookmarks, cultural stickers, COVID at home tests, etc.). The have COVID safety equipment upfront. The staff is commonly masked when numbers go up. And they sanitize the children’s toys/activities.

Two parking lots - one north of Foothill, and the other off of La Crescenta (enter library on the second floor). They have a book store (proceeds to friends of library/library). Tons of computers, hot spots, and other access items all available for free check out.

Highly recommend the Libby app for your audiobooks and digital books. It works with your library membership at no cost!

Awesome spot. Tons of regulars from the neighborhood because the staff here have made this library a community. Shout out to all you amazing folks that make our library such a beautiful place. Librarian William, Martha, Wendy, Jennifer, Aprine (sp?), and the others are great, and go above and beyond to make you feel welcomed, and supported at a very high level!! Thank you!

Hayoung Yoon

집근처 걸어다닐수 있는 거리에 도서관이 있다는것, 그것도 시설도 잘되어있는 도서관이 있다는것은 행복한 일입니다. 처음 이곳으로 이사왔을때 나를 처음으로 반겨줬던 곳도 이 도서관이고 나에게 웃으며 안부를 묻던 사람들도 이 도서관에서 일하시는 분들이였습니다. 10년만에 이곳을 지나다가 차를 세워 잠시 들려보니 그때의 기억들이 새록새록 생각납니다. 이곳이 고향인 누군가에게는 이 도서관이 나처럼 특별한 건물일거라 생각합니다.
10년후에도 그 모습 그대로 이 자리에 지키고 있기를 희망합니다.

Helga Melgar

I went here nearly everyday on my 3-week visit to California. I so love visiting and hanging out at libraries, especially the local, neighborhood ones. This was such a cool place, with an atrium that lets natural light in. Beautiful walkway, too. Everyone is helpful. I love coming to this place.

Eve Morrigan

Beautiful space with lots of places to sit. A good selection of books can be found.

Alexandra Hopkins

I love this library. We're so lucky to have it. It's a beautiful building inside and out. And the librarians are very helpful. Thank you!

Judy W

I have never ever felt the need to review a public library negatively but here goes. . .

I have been a patron of the glendale, pasadena, and los angeles city library systems for 7-8 years. a couple years ago i moved into the area so thought i would give this la county la cresenta branch a try. it was the pandemic. i respected what they did. so when little things bothered me (like kicking patrons out for staying too long, or shushing little kids who can't help but run around in the children's section, or just general uppity vibes when I'm browsing), i tried to look past it.

well. this past week i tried to check out a book and there was a $15 fine in my account. they said a book i returned was "water damaged." SO water damaged that it apparently would collect mold so they refused to take it back. i asked the librarian to show me where this "water damage" was and it took her two flip-throughs of the book to show me 1 winkled page. there are SO many books in so much worse condition in this library! the books my children checked out are actually MISSING PAGES or have things just falling apart or the pages are actually brown. I wanted to support this library (heck, I used to want to be a librarian!), so of course I paid it (which, btw, they don't take cards, only cash, just fyi. and you have to do it on their website). After all this, I asked if I can just then donate the book back to them (because I don't need it anymore) and I was immediately venomously rejected, by two staff members all at once.

40 years being a patron of many many libraries. steward of a little free library on my block. avid book lover. host in many book clubs. and here i am, for the first time ever, being punished for a "water mark." there was no warning. there was no forgiveness or understanding (I admit, I brought it with me to the hospital while I was giving birth so yes, maybe in my medically induced haze late one night some water or condensation got on the plastic cover and seeped through. I do feel bad about that.) Yet, the customer service aspect is clearly lacking at this branch. The very first time I return a "damaged" book I get heavily fined and then get the book shoved back in my face? Like I said, been frequenting MANY libraries in the surrounding cities and never been treated that way.

I will of course add it to my little free library where I gift books to the community. i don't mind that. but this public library branch and its staff? thumbs down. thumbs way way down.

K N

No one spoke good enough English to help me. Went around in circles between staff for assistance before being handed to a librarian who referred to me call the manager for further help. Its discouraging to see their smiles fade when you inquire about basic library installments in fluent English.

Chris D.

I don't understand some of the poor reviews. The staff is great, has always been polite and professional and supportive. This place is very clean, with state of the art computers, wifi, air conditioning, wonderful events throughout the year, book store, to name a few. I think the manager is doing a really great job in keeping this library in top condition. The best Library so far.