West Valley Branch Library

I love going here staff is so nice! They keep the Library so clean. My favorite Library. Keep up the good work:) the only thing that bothered me there’s a lady who is always walking around with a brush in her hand that has a mirror on it and she came up to my daughter and was putting it in her face and every time I go I see her doing that to people it’s creepy.

Staff are helpful in this cozy, small library branch. Selections are limited, but the location is easy to find, parking is abundant, and you can always request items be transferred and held for you at this location online.

It was so easy to get a library card here (nothing like my old library). You can fill out the form online, then just show up with your ID and within minutes you’ll have your shiny new library card. The librarian was friendly and helpful and we were able to find tons of children’s books for my niece. They have self checkout, which my niece thought was so fun! Plenty of parking, and a self return outside so you can drop off your books ²⁴⁄₇!

I love this cozy little library that happens to be down the street from my daughter’s Japanese school. It has nice natural light, cozy corners, and windows in most study areas so you don’t feel like you’re in a mausoleum (unlike Sunnyvale library). They also have a decent selection of Japanese kids books, considering that they are a branch library, and have a Japanese storytime once a week that I’d love to take my younger child too. If only it was on a weekend!
I think it is unfortunate that there is such a stiff fine for lost books ($ 20 restocking), that added to the replacement fee for the book itself makes it really expensive to cope with a lost book. And unfortunately, with a six and two year old in the house, it is all too easy to lose a book. I think libraries are important to a community and am happy to support them, but wish I could do it differently. Librarians have been very nice about the situation, even though there seems to be very little that they can do about it in terms of waiving fees etc. :(
My daughter is in love with the kids’ reading space– it is so welcoming and cute and so much nicer than either her school library or our home Sunnyvale library. I wish I lived down the street from this place!
Also, it makes a huge difference now that they are open 6 days a week. The previous schedule was ridiculous– I was NEVER in the area when they were open so they might as well have existed. My daughter is sad about the early closing times, though– we could only go together in the evening after her school, so usually I have to come by myself. Please, San Jose, continue funding your libraries… and consider later hours!!!

Taught me almost everything I know! Been going here for all my life so wanted to give them some props in place of all these bad reviews. For how many libraries have closed down/​barely operate, I’m glad they still have this one open for well over 25 years. Gives kids a good spot to chill after school too. As annoying as all these middle schoolers and high schoolers can be, I’m glad they’re out there putting in effort

This is the nearest library to my house, however it does not match up to the libraries in Singapore. This place can easily be reached by walking or by public transport. It is a huge hit for kids. It is not a great place to study for college students because it is not open everyday. If you want to some nice travel videos then come here

This review is solely based on my experience with the story time sessions they have here.
So story time is on Thursday at 11am in the community room and man was it depressing. So the community room looks like a stone coloured bunker. There is a kitchenette (?) in the corner and when I was there there was a big bag of Mac Donald’s and a soda cup on it. There is nothing kid like or book inspired about the room.
Afterwards most mothers stay so the kids can play, but if you are new to this event don’t expect to mingle. Most moms separate themselves in groups of their own ethnicity (and don’t interact with others and strangely enough so do their kids.)
It’s just not worth going to if you can have story time at the library in Saratoga (which is really cool!)

I am utterly disappointed in the public library system for San Jose. My experience today was filled with rude people and patronizing managers.
I was a student at San Jose State and I have been an active user of the libraries for years. I am a teacher in San Jose and I use the San Jose Public Library system for my classroom, as a resource for my students and their families, and as a personal resource for my family. All of that being said, I doubt I will be using it, or recommending it, in the future.
My story:
I requested two books that I thought might be good to add to the collection in my middle school classroom, but I wanted to read them before I buy them. The books took an extremely long time to get in, even though they didn’t seem to have a waiting list, and when they finally did come in, I got the email right before a weekend. I have a family, and they have a busy life, so I couldn’t get to the library that weekend. I am sure many people know how fast time flies over the weekend. The West Valley Branch is closed Sunday-​Tuesday, so the next time I could go in was Wednesday. Unfortunately I had a church meeting that night. I had to rush home from work, feed my kidlet, and rush off to the meeting. Alas, no library. On Thursday I went to the library, literally less than 10 minutes after it closed, which was earlier then I realized, and so no book that day. The following day I flew out of town for the weekend. I went to the library today to pick up the books, which was the next day they were open, and they had not only returned the books to the «back room,» but I had been charged for them. I was told, in a very condescendingly magnanimous way, that they had «waited until Wednesday as a courtesy since the books had actually hit the 7 business day mark the day before,» a day in which they were closed. The books have totally disappeared and there is no way to get them back, again, even though there is no one on a waiting list for them. I noticed on the screen that the extremely rude assistant manager showed me that the books had been pulled at 11:19AM, but they were unavailable for me to check out now. That was when I saw the fee. I know that there is a fee if you don’t pick up requested books, but I had never given it much thought. Well, it’s $ 3.00 per book. I then was referred to the manager who apparently thought I was three and spoke to me like the witch probably spoke to Hansel and Gretel, and she ended up waiving the fees, after a tedious and long explanation about the library’s policy. I also noticed at that time that there were three more fees for the same thing that I didn’t realize I had even paid. Now, I admit it is kind of a sad testament to my life that I paid fees I didn’t know I had, but I have a very active 4 year old who has inadvertently placed a book somewhere in the car and I have not realized I didn’t return it until a few days too late. I have always paid those fines, because I know that it is my responsibility to return the books on time.
Why the outrage? Well, it’s simple. I don’t believe I am the only busy parent. I work about 35 minutes from the library, which happens to be close to my house though, and there are no libraries convenient to work. It is easiest to use the West Valley Branch. We have sports, church, friends, and family obligations, which again is not unusual in this area. All of that being said, when the library is closed three days out of seven, and has operating hours that mirror most work places, it is unreasonable to think that a family can always get there within a seven day time frame. There are some weeks that it simply won’t happen. I think that is is fine to charge a fee for overdue books, although the price is quite high in my opinion, and I get why they don’t want people to constantly request books and never pick them up, but there should be a fine after a specific number of books are not picked up, not after a set amount of days.
Sadly, no one in the library seemed to care. I can afford the fees, but there are many families who can’t. I think that the way the library system in San Jose is being run will discourage families from using it, and I can’t in good consciousness support them any longer. I also really dislike rude people, and I met several there today.

I really like this place. They always have really popular and well reviewed books just… sitting there… and it’s really fun to browse them and find, unexpectedly, the Tartine cookbook, or something. It also has a pretty extensive romance and mystery novels section as well as good paperback selection for YA. I like how airy and open the place feels.
It’s not really good for studying or concentrating since there’s always a lot of kids and families there, or people tutoring. I like how there are power outlets on a long communal table.
The same people have worked there for like 10+ years; there’s this one rather shy librarian there who just gets older and nicer looking each time I go. ANYWAY. The information booth isn’t as helpful, sometimes people are a bit cranky, and it’s a little hard to find parking on peak hours. In general, though, a nice place to relax and read.

Good tables & lighting for studying & close to my house. However, they close much earlier than other libraries & aren’t open on some days. I will probably go to the Cupertino library instead since they are open later and more often. It’s nice to have the option to go here though.

I used to live here as a kid, and since it’s gotten remodeled it’s less cozy (but also less «shabby» i suppose), more modern, and still a lovely place. small, but a very nice library, and also one where you can probably track your kids (since it’s only one floor). they have a pretty decent selection, but it’s probably more of a family/​kid-​oriented place than anything else. they also have areas where you can use computers. i should visit more often.

it’s not that big, but it’s bigger than the library near my house, which was recently closed for construction. so i headed over here to see what my options were.
it’s located on the corner of san tomas aquino and saratoga, right past the fire station.
one of the first things you’ll notice is a giant artichoke in front of the building. it’s part of their «green» theme, since the building was designed to be energy efficient. there’s other vegetables inside, like a bok choy shaped like a chair in the kid’s section.
also in the green theme is the mobiles hanging from the ceiling. they are made of out recycled trash, water bottles and whatnot. there is a fireplace in one section of the library, with couches in front. it’s the electric kind, with fake logs.
their foreign language section is pretty large, especially indian languages and chinese. they also have a teen reading room with lots of magazines, as well as a silent study room.
i wanted to check out some workout videos, but most were already checked out. so i requested them via the website by punching in my library card number and PIN no. You can request books and media from other libraries via the same system.
if you put your email id in their computer system, they’ll send you a reminder 3 days before your books are due.
there are lots of community events here, meetings and clubs. the young adult librarian runs a manga club, and a video game playoff every month. there’s a knitting club as well. they frequently have story hour for the kids. when i was there last month, they had a bookmark contest for kids going on. also for kids, they have these multimedia backpacks that include books and toys.
they generally have only one reference librarian out at any given time. the librarians work in the back, and they cycle out every hour or two. the checkout registers are self-​serve.

This is your stodgy-cardigan-wearing-library’s younger cool teenage sister!
It’s very popular with families and has a vibrant exciting energy. It’s more like a community center. They have a number of monthly events targeting to kids & teens, but also have ESL and internet lessons every week too. There’s a monthly book club and they bring in authors to speak on occasion.
All of the check outs are handled by scanners, but the librarians are friendly and available if you have questions. It’s pretty modern inside, with lots of large windows — yet interestingly designed with light wood, high ceilings and chrome.
West Valley has an impressive dvd collection of new popular series — including things like Six Feet Under, Veronica Mars, Buffy — which you can check out for a week. They also have a lot of cds, and even manga. They have a very large international book and media section too.
Since this branch is small, they don’t have quiet the book selection as some larger branches, so they lose a star. But coming here is fun — so I’d recommend checking out.
edit to add: Twice now I have had issues with strange fines showing up on my account. They’re straightened it out twice, but it is alarming and something to keep an eye on. sorry — you lose one star!