Carnegie Neighborhood Library

This is the worst library that I have been to. They are intermittently open and when they close it is always for «maintenance» (e.g. broken air conditioner and other unspecified reasons); so call before you go. The book selections are weak and I have yet to see quality movies in DVD. In order to access higher quality books one needs to reserve them from other libraries, namely Central Library.
When a patron reserves a book, they are only allowed one renewal after the initial check out. This is very, very stingy as I have dealt with libraries that at the least give you three renewals unless a patron has already reserved the book. I checked out more than ten books a few times and the library clerks commented on how many books I had as if it was a bad thing. Due to their renewal policies, the attitude of the staff when patrons are lifelong learners and their over billing me on library fines, I stopped checking out books. When a patron checks out and returns a book, always save the receipt because they may lose the book in transit and try to leave you holding the bag with the extra fines until the book is finally located. Furthermore, please inspect the books that you check out because if there are CD’s missing and damage that the staff did not notice previously, they will notice when you return the book and try to stick you with the fines. That actually happened to me a few times.
With these practices, it is easy to see how a person can «dumb down» in Houston and lose the tradition and pleasure of reading and learning. This may explain why the majority of the patrons are single homeless men from the nearby Salvation Army who come to surf the internet. One hardly sees children there unless there is a special event. I find this very depressing as childhood forms the building blocks for adulthood. This community apathy may explain there is so much illiteracy in Houston.