Multnomah County Library – Woodstock

Ok, maybe you know this already, but there’s this place you can go that will let you take books home, several of them at a time — for FREE!!! I mean, ok, ok, you’ve heard of it before, but when you stop and think about it — it’s pretty frickin amazing!
It’s not the biggest library, but this place still packs a punch. I love that it’s on my way home and the librarians are always sweet and helpful.
Love you Woodstock library. Support your local libraries folks — reading is sexy!

I love the convenience of this Library. Yes, it’s a bit small, but it’s our Library and I love it. Great to bike or walk to. Conveniently located off the bus line and close to other places you might need to run errands at.
All of their Librarians are especially knowledgable and helpful. They are always sweet to me and my little guy when we come in. They have a a variety of rotating community events geared toward every age and interest. Check this place out and check out a some books. Watch out for public bathrooms at all libraries as they are used by vagrants and drug users often.
I love book babies and other events they have going on here. Always a great place to come hang out on our many rainy Portland days… or even the sunny ones. It’s a great place to meet with other people in your community and see how you can get involved.

Living right next to a library growing up couldn’t have been any better. This library has everything I ever really need, lots of natural light and big tables that you can occupy especially for a busy college student that I was when I used to go to the library to study and use the internet with all my textbooks scattered around me. It’s nice and cozy also because the wait times aren’t ever that long if you did need to use the public computers either. If you did happen to wait long there is a lot going on around the Woodstock neighborhood so make sure you come back on time for that reservation you had for the public computer.
All the staff and volunteers are really friendly here probably because they always see the same familiar faces that show up all the time here because it’s so nice to work in this environment. The best part about this library is the amount of open space they have you literally could stand in the middle of the library and see wall to wall around here. Maybe I’m a little biased since this is my main library that I visit but I think this library is one the best ones I’ve gone to excluding the luxurious central library downtown that is.

We love this library! It’s small but incredibly clean and organized. The staff are as friendly and helpful as you could hope for, and it’s a blessing to have a library devoted to the neighborhoods of Woodstock, Brentwood-​Darlington, Mt. Scott-​Arleta, and Eastmoreland. I recognized long ago that the massive libraries of my youth are fading away along with their budgets, and now take full advantage of the Multonomah County Library’s website. It’s awesome! My family and I order a bunch of books that we want, they get collected from other libraries around the county and delivered to Woodstock, and we then get an email saying our books are ready to be picked up. The wall dedicated to ordered books is always packed, so I think most people are adapting to the new system. For being such a small library, Woodstock has a decent children’s section and a very nice comic book/​graphic novel section. They also have the occassional author’s reading and fun activities for children on certain holidays. This is a great place!

Eh… Its okay, however its the closest one to me and I dont have much choice. I guess I was spoiled when I first moved here, I went to the Wilsonville Library and it was big and nice; what you want from a library. Woodstock is always packed when I go in and I feel like I run into people when trying to look for a book. I mostly reserve and pick up now so I dont have to fight the crowds. Its just a small space for an area where a lot of people read and like to come into the library. I just wish it was a bigger spot…

This branch is just in the «okay» camp for me. There aren’t any quiet /​private study rooms and today there were a lot of kids. Even with headphones in, I found it hard to concentrate on the «work» I had to do. The available tables for working and reading are adequately sized with outlets but are right in the middle of the branch, leading to a lot of distracting walk by traffic.
This is a nice, newer branch structurally (1999), so it has large open windows and lots of natural light. Today you wouldn’t know «light» if it hit you in the head because of our area’s wild cold, wet spring, but I’m sure it’s lovely on a sunny day. The lighting was strong enough to work with though, even in gray skies.
When I was there, I had a little trouble with the WiFi, which also happened for me at another branch of the county library system. I was able to visit things like facebook without any problem, but when it came time to load things like the classifieds section of
, the network didn’t want to cooperate. I was also hoping to stream an out-​of-​area radio station and the site for that wouldn’t load either. I’m not sure if this is the library or just coincidence.
As for books, this library has a decent collection with modest non-​fiction and fiction areas. The children’s area is very large and had a lot of «JJ» books available. I didn’t see anything specifically highlighted for teens at this branch. There are a decent number of magazines and newspapers as well.
Parking is available in a lot in the rear if you can find it or nearby streets. Since this is the part of town where some streets turn into mysterious dirt trails, be cautious if you’ve left SE Woodstock or 49^th. Your car will thank you.
To close, I did see one man abusing the library’s «open and accessible Internet» policy looking at a pornographic website. He was trying to hide it… badly. Multnomah County is a system with a policy that allows this kind of conduct, but patrons are supposed to stop if you bring the offense to the attention of a librarian.

This branch is like a mile from the Holgate location, but it may as well be in a different town. Holgate is often REALLY crowded, kinda dark, has a weird layout, and doesn’t seem to have a good selection on the shelf. Woodstock is the opposite: light, bright, clean, with a wider selection on the shelf. Though Holgate is closer to my house, I usually pedal the extra 5 minutes and go to Woodstock.

I Love our libraries. They rule.
Nothing more can be said.

This is my favorite library because it is the closest to my house. Plus, it is full of good books and kind librarians.

Bookworms rejoice!
I’ve been to several of Portland’s libraries, and this is one of my favorites. It’s not enormous, but it does have a good selection of books, movies, videos, tapes on CD, music CDs… And if they don’t physically have it at this branch, you can easily put it on hold and expect to be able to pick it up within a couple of weeks.
The people at the information desk can generally steer inquiring patrons in the right direction. The librarians are almost ridiculously friendly. And even though the shelved movies are generally minimal, the graphic novel section is pretty impressive.
The library itself is simple yet well-​kempt. There’s a children’s section and about eight internet-​friendly computers that you can print $ 0.05 copies off of. I’ll admit, I’ve had to wait about 45 minutes to use the internet, but the fifteen-​minute computer is usually a pretty quick option.
And this is Multnomah County, after all. So the library offers a plethora of free community programs. Quickbooks/​Excel training programs, local poetry readings, childrens book readings. It’s simply good free community offerings. I’m also a fan of the community board near the entrance, where you’ll find ads for things like the Girl’s Rock and Roll Camp and Know Your Rights When it Comes to the Police. ‘Cuz everyone knows… the library’s where all the hoodlums and trouble-​makers congregate.
Go, nerd power.

Growing up I lived on the Boulevard. Woodstock, that is. We lived kitty-​corner from the Woodstock Branch Library and oh, did we enjoy it! After school days sitting in the library. Study days at the library. Rainy days at the library. The tall dark shelves, the chairs in private corners, the big plate glass windows muffling the traffic on the Boulevard. The librarians watchful eyes – ever vigilant to shush if anyone got too rambuncious. Getting our first library card and carting home our stacks of books. Good times!
The good times continue with a facelift for the library and computer access for the patrons. It’s airy, has clean restrooms and they lend CDs and DVDs and offer downloadable MP3s… and oh, yes, lots of books! I stopped buying books about three years ago and always use the library. The parking here is a bit tight but TriMet stops right outside the front door traveling either east or west. It’s not as grand as the Central Library downtown but it’s very, very nice.

When I lived in Portland, I moved to the SE side of the city, after 18 months spent living in SW Portland. I thought that, overall, SW Portland had more to offer.
One of the best things about SE Portland though, is the Woodstock library branch. Unlike the Central library, the Woodstock branch is cozy, brightly lit, clean, and it’s mostly free of the weirdos that haunt the Central library. If you need to use a computer at the Woodstock library, you usually won’t have to wait longer than a few minutes. At the Central library, you may wait up to 40 minutes, to use their computers!
I also like the area where the Woodstock library is located. It’s in a leafy residential area, which is also adjacent to the neighborhood shopping center. There’s a Safeway, with other shops and stores surrounding it, within walking distance to the Woodstock library. There’s also a laundromat in that same area. So, you could do your laundry there, then walk down to the Woodstock library to read, while your clothes are drying. Also, there’s a couple of bus stops right in front of the Woodstock library. That’s great, if you have to rely on public transit.
I highly recommend this library! It has everything the other Portland libraries have, while also being the most pleasant Portland library to visit.

Because you made me feel so shinny and new!!! Ooh. Woodstock’s new library seems to be a hidden treasure among Hardware stores and strip malls. I love how welcoming it is inside, with big windows that stream the past couple of days gorgeous sunshine in, and close proximity to a bunch of coffee shops, so if you need a brake from the quiet, you’ve got a wide range of choices at your fingertips.