Howard County Library System – East Columbia Branch

This is a wonderful library. It’s buzzing with activities, has a lot to offer except books and DVDs. The staff is incredibly polite. Membership is free.

Its HUGE in here. All my years passing this place and i never turned in. I wont be making that mistake again. Its clean QUIET and actually a tad cold like libraries of days past. I reallly appreciate the individual study carousels and i love that there is a wood at the bottom so you dont kick the person in front of you. I’ll definitely be back!

I really don’t spend much time here. I pretty much just request materials online and then come to this branch to pick them up because it is the closest branch to where I live. I will say this, however. I absolutely love the variety of materials that are available via the online catalog. Furthermore, every single employee I have ever interacted with here has been exceptionally friendly. I always get served very quickly when I walk in to pick up hold materials. The parking lot is huge – I have never had a problem there. This is a really great public library.

I love coming here in the summer. During the school year you have to get about before school dismissal because you definitely don’t want to be here when all the kids from the neighboring school get out. Trust me and leave before 2:45! Its a convenient location not too from Brokenland Parkway. The parking lot is huge and there is always plenty of spaces available. Its one of the larger locations in the county with a mail box out front and a senior center is attached to it. They have restrooms in the front as well as family restrooms in the children’s area. Speaking of that particular area my little girl loves it back there. She is 5 and I like to bring her here in the summer to get some reading done and go to some events. They have a pajama time in the evenings when they read the kids bedtime stories. Perfect to help the little ones wind down. They also have plenty of toys there for them. All the shelves are smaller so she can pick out her own books.
The very nice feature is that this branch has a full service passport office. I was able to come here to get my daughters passport done. It was so much faster than when I did mine at the post office. Yet another plus is there is plenty to do to occupy you wait time. The staff there is very friendly and you can ask them anything. If they don’t know the answer best believe they will find it for you. I can see why the Howard County Library system is so highly rated.

This place is a hidden gem. It is located in residential area. First of all, it is pretty big for a local county library.
Library offers regular book, dvd/​movie, audiobook, computers, password services, education classes/​services and lots of community activities and sometimes I see community services groups in front of library promoting their cause (the cat club, cyclists’ club, etc).
The Librarians are all very helpful and very knowledgeable — sometimes they seem a bit overwhelmed even though there aren’t that many people coming up to them asking for help (I guess they’re busy doing other administrative works).
The library is pretty easy to navigate — i really love the multiple computers in middle of library (there’s always an open computer, so I can do my own search of books I want to find, no having to wait for an open computer in line, yay). I love the «quiet squares”/study area and there are lots of group study rooms in the back.
When I request for things that they don’t have — books, dvds, anything — the request is usually fulfilled within 1 week.
Also, sooo much parking space and bike parking!!! This place is well-​worth my tax dollars!

Came here to get my daughter’s passport the other night and it was sort of a weird experience. First of all, you cannot pay with a credit card no matter what the website says. I had to leave and go to buy a money order since I left my checkbook at home and didn’t want to drive all the way back.
Once I got back and my husband and I gave our own passports to the lady at the counter processing our daughter’s passport, she seemed troubled asking, «Don’t you have a Driver’s License instead.» Uhhh… well yeah, but a) why does it matter and b) Passports are actually preferential forms of identification when dealing with a Federal Agency and not a state municipality. When I told her we preferred to use our passports, we obliged and made the copies.
From there, we had to wait a little under and hour until someone else could see use and take our money, etc. That lady took us to the back of the library to review our paperwork, once again asking for our IDs and, upon seeing that we had passports, inquiring as to if we had driver’s licenses instead… this time explaining that passports were «tough to copy» since they were «so large.» Really, lady? You aren’t freeform drawing our likenesses. Anyway, I explained that the lady before her had already conquered the task and that we were good to go. We paid the $ 80, plus another $ 25 for their processing fee. Might as well have driven to DC and done it with the Regional Agency itself and gotten it expedited for that price (just $ 5 more).
That being said, I was impressed that they did on site passport photos there. I wish I had known that beforehand otherwise I might have done that and had it handled all in one fell swoop. The experience here wasn’t bad, just a bit strange. I’ll try my hand elsewhere when we need to renew.

Reviewing Passport Services.
Great and efficient. You get a buzzer so you can explore the library and are called back when they are ready. Better than some of those depressing municipal offices and don’t get me started about the USPS.
I went around 4:30 on a Thursday and I left around 5:15. Check their hours on their website not the the state department’s passport website.

The great thing about this library, is that there are so many little cubicles for studying! Outlets are on the ground, spread out… If you’re at the library to STUDY, then this is a very quiet place to do so. You’ll always find a seat. The only negative thing, is that it’s a little bit on the older side — and I find the lighting to be a bit dim in some areas.
It does have less materials to check out, so if you are looking for a wider range of books and DVD’s, try Central or Miller Branch. Overall, a great place to go for some studying; less traffic here — the parking lot’s never full.

As long as there is a such thing in the great United States, I will always be a fan of the free library. It is my go-​to resource for family entertainment, education, and community support. The Howard county library East Columbia branch happens to be top of the line as I have frequented libraries all over Maryland and throughout Howard County none tops the quality of the East Columbia branch. A few bonus points are the self checkout stations, children’s library and theater, ample PCs for patron usage (no weird ticketing or wait in line strategies here!), free printing up to 5 pages, and the warm, friendly, well-​knowledgable staff! I absolutely love just about everything about this library, the turn around for books on order could be quicker but that’s not really within the branch’s control. Another thing I might change would be to add Microsoft office as the systems they have now autoformat and can dramatically change your work if you’re here to use the library for printing. Other than that you cannot beat the East Columbia branch!

It is much nicer to come to since they started allowing food and drinks again, and even installed the coffee machine (pro tip: don’t buy from it– it’s disgusting). It is generally much less populated and much quieter than the Central Library, and chances are, you will be able to find a window-​wall side table to study, unlike at Central. There are more tables and seats than available in Central, and while Central is good for finding books, if you want to study or use the computer, I would suggest East Columbia Library.

Love this library! The atmosphere is great and they have a wonderful selection of both books and movies. You can also get a passport here which is great to know if you want to avoid a hassle at the MVA.

This place is nice and clean. I don’t often go to this library alot cause it’s too far away from my house. The got good selections of movies and cd over there.

I have to admit, this is one of my favorite libraries! Does that make me a dork? Oh well!
This place is clean and very well organized and quiet! I used to love coming here when I was in school to study to get away from the normal studying in my room type deal.
In any case, I also came here to have my passport changed and the staff is very nice and very welcoming, as well as accomodating.
They have a pretty good selection of movies too so if you ever want to watch a movie for freeeeeee, this is a good place to browse around =)

Since I won’t have to apply for another decade, I figure I let you in on this little secret: did you know that you can apply for your passport at the library? Me neither!
Applying for a passport lies somewhere between a trip to the MVA/​DMV and getting a paper cut on the pleasantness scale. And since most passport acceptance facilities close around 3pm, you not only get a paper cut, but you have to miss work for it too.
Not so at Howard County’s East Columbia Branch Library. They take walk-​ins from 3−7pm M-​Th and Saturday 10am-​4pm and the staff are incredibly friendly. They also take passport photos on site for $ 15, which is $ 5 more than you’d have to pay at CVS. Fees are the same as at any acceptance facility: $ 25, but a proceed of that goes to the library.
As far as the library itself, I LOVE the Children’s section — maybe more so than my 3yo daughter. Tons of clever nooks for the kids to read in and a little play area with easy readers for the little ones. The library is huge and has plenty of parking.
So if you need a passport and would rather skip the passport office or the USPS, head to Columbia.