Vancouver Community Library

We love making a trip over the river for play dates with our kids to this amazing library. Great location, for walkable lunch before or after. The upstairs play area is too awesome. We wish we could get here more!

Such a trendy place in downtown Vancouver. Nice place to grab a coffee and have a discussion with a client or catch up on some reading. Always buzzing with many people, but not distracting in the slightest. Such a cool feel for a library!

Great library. I came here to use their WIFI for the day. Library is open and spacious. If I had one complaint, its noisy. Sound travels in the open design of this building. You can hear kids crying on floors below. Over the course of 4 hours, two different groups held meetings (talking in normal voices) in the tables next to me. Surprised by that. Headphones solved noise issues in the end.

I always go to this library in Vancouver. It’s awesome. I almost always find what I need and it is my favorite place to study.

This place is the best library there is out there PERIOD! It always gets more and more badass and dope every time you go there. I always come here when i am in downtown Vancouver, WA. The teen center is dope and badass too. I always come here with my friends every time we are in the downtown area.

My favorite library especial the fifth floor where I can study and research in peace.

This library is wonderful for my toddler to experience. Awesome play area and fun classes weekly for kids of all ages. Great place for rainy day activities. The coffee shop inside has delicious coffee. Really amazing architecture. I would give five stars but the self checkout is frustrating and often doesn’t work, and on several occasions not all my books got checked out from a librarian. Also there are several scary areas that a wandering toddler could fall from (seriously guys, put up some barriers) if they were to climb up a short shelf of books or fall down the stairs. And the hobos that are always hanging about in droves when you first walk inside are intimidating. Last request, stock more small children’s books! We have to re read the same books over and over. But this is a really fun place for a toddler. Oh, arrive early because parking is super awful and they really should designate the adjacent lot as parking.

We absolutely LOVE the children’s play area here! It’s especially perfect for rainy days; you get to stay warm indoors, let the kids have fun, and grab a good book for yourself.

As somebody who just came from Portland/​Multnomah County library network… all I can say is WOW. Just… wow. This library has knocked my socks off.
The woman that helped me set up my account was incredibly friendly. Not uptight like many of the librarians you experience back in PDX. She was informational and walked me through the process of Clark County’s library system very clearly.
Really though, the good customer service here was just the tip of the iceberg. This library is absolutely STUNNING. It’s a five-​story building with a deck on the fifth level that has a panoramic South-​facing view. Definitely no libraries in PDX as badass as this place.
Only thing is that parking sucks here and there’s definitely some shady business such as drug deals going down in the library. So… keep the little ones near by.

Just like most people have said, great library, beautiful space. HOWEVER, extremely frustrating policies that don’t make any sense.
I am sitting here right now, staring at 2 empty conference rooms. I want to use one so that I can make an important call via Skype and not disturb everybody around me. Unfortunately, I can’t because there is an arbitrary policy requiring a minimum of 2 people present per conference room.
So while I, a tax-​paying citizen that helps fund this place, need a tiny bit of extra privacy for 15 minutes, the library’s policy leaves these two conference rooms empty. (They’re locked — I can’t just sneak in.)
Awesome job Vancouver library. You’re really making your neighbors (who pay your bills) happy.

Great library. I wish the parking was better. I love that the top floor is designated as a quiet area, but that doesn’t really hold up when the security guard is always chatting it up with the staff.

Sure, from the outside this place looks spectacular. One of the most beautiful libraries I’ve been to. Unfortunately, I think they spent all of their cash on aesthetics and forgot about the books. They very rarely have the book I’m looking for. Not a single Gillian Flynn book (not even her older books)? ONE Carl Hiaasen book? The «lucky day» book section is just sad.
I was really expecting a lot more from a library with 5 floors.
And the parking is a joke.

Beautiful space! I’m an independent contractor and come here to work sometimes. The area on the 5^th floor with tables, chairs (and even a gas fireplace) opening out onto a beautiful deck is awesome. The work area on the 4^th floor is cool too just not as visually appealing.
There are two issues that make both areas less than perfect: (1) The idea of library as quiet space is totally not part of the culture here. Loud patrons, babies and toddlers screeching and running, chatty teens. The other day three guys were loudly discussing details of their respective sentencing hearings… (2) Lots of homeless coming and going or camped out sleeping in all the chairs with accompanying smells and sometimes obvious mental health issues. Even I think I’m an ogre for saying this, but there should probably be some prohibition on extended naps at the library. Not quite to the level of Portland yet but some days it can certainly impact the quality of your experience at the Vancouver library.

Love the library, absolutely hate the parking. 2 hours? Let’s build a beautiful new building with great study/​reading/​kids areas, a coffee shop, free wi-​fi, computers, etc, then limit your enjoyment by ticketing everyone who spends more than 2 hours doing so. A 4 hour limit would at least be more reasonable. And instead of bring up ‘space turnover’ (this isn’t a business!), how about paving the big open lot next to it while you wait countless years trying to figure out how to pay for the underground parking structure on your wish list. Rant over… off to pay my $ 18 parking ticket.

I’m writing this review from the perspective of someone from out of town who recently did a presentation at the library as part of a 50+ series for seniors.
I worked with Kimberly to determine a time, date for this program, and she was beyond gracious with my myriad questions. I was coming from Seattle and didn’t know what to expect. What day and time of day can we get the best attendance? What topics will your customers be most interested in learning about? How will you promote the event to the community? Throughout it all Kimberly was patient, answered all of my questions, and provided several ways of being able to contact her before and just prior to the presentation.
She also assured me that any technical needs I had would be handled by the library. I was booked into a beautiful presentation room with a large screen and a laptop so that all I had to do was pop my jump drive in and fire up the power point. I can’t stress how much I appreciated the facility itself.
Between the stellar customer service and the beautiful building, I have to say my experience at the library was one of the best I’ve ever had. If I lived in Vancouver (or even a couple towns away) I would spend a lot of time here.

Everything about this place is right, which is odd, because its in Vancouver.
The children’s level is the best. I love Lego day.
It could use more seating, but lets be real, we all know what would happen. The major Flaw with this, and all Liberry’s; it needs a bar, preferably at the top, call it «books on tap» or «tap on books», or some such other bêtise.

This is the most modern library I’ve ever been in. It wins the «Least Cave-​like» award in the Library category.
Pros:
Kids should be seen and not heard. This rule should be multiplied by 10 when in a library, where not much of anything at all should be heard. Shh! So, this library, in it’s architectural genius, has a whole floor devoted to their kids section. That’s right — you don’t have to hear the kids… or even see them! Great concept, I’m giving it one extra star just for this.
There’s a coffee shop right in the library.
Multiple study areas on the 4^th and 5^th floors, with outlets for laptop plug-​in.
Friendly, helpful staff.
Did I mention it is not a cave? Very open-​concept building, tons of natural light.
Cons:
Parking! This seems to be a really dumb trend with restaurants, and now with this library — to put the single entrance on one side of the building, and the parking lot on the other side. WTF? I’m all for walking, but not when a) it’s raining, and especially b) I am lugging my 600-​pound study bag of textbooks and laptop. There is not much parking available, and their sign says 2-​hour maximum. Lame.
All in all, I like this new library, which is a good thing since I will be spending a lot of time there over the next few years.

I voted against the bond measure that built this library and even today I am still an upset taxpayer that they built this new main branch. I didn’t see much wrong with the old building to be honest, I still don’t. However, you cannot hold a grudge forever, they built it, I’m still paying for it and the east side branch we didn’t need either (will be for a long time to come) so I might as well finally get myself down there and start using it.
It is a very modern looking building, not at all «library-​esque» in stature. They put it across from the old Academy Building and across the freeway from Fort Vancouver so it looks a little out of place among the historic buildings it towers over. Parking is limited in the lot however there are street options just bring your loose change for the meters.
Walking in the entrance you are hit with a sense of S P A C E ! There are no floors over you at the south end of the building just windows to your right and knowledge to your left. Used books are for sale at the front, coffee is for sale at the back.
The first floor is all meeting rooms, browsing the latest books, coffee and some multimedia. Second floor seems to be all administrative offices. Third floor is strictly for the kids. Fourth and fifth floors are for adults with the fifth floor also housing the terrace that surely we will be able to use four months out of the year or so.
Lets go back to the third floor for a moment. I am all about kids and reading but I have to wonder about the wisdom of a virtual play area. They call it a discovery area to stimulate reading and learning from ages one to five, I call it a distraction. You want kids to love books and while there are some learning opportunities incorporated into the area every kid I saw enter the floor eschewed the rows of books and made a beeline for the play area. You have to wonder about the wisdom of this.
I was impressed with the layout of the floors and the ample area available for the use of laptops and the extra comfortable chairs layed out by the even more ample window space on the fourth floor. If they were trying to come up with a space indoors that almost makes you feel outdoors then I would say they came pretty darn close. As staunch a political gadfly as I am, I am even more a proponent of learning and knowledge so this new space is a major upgrade over the old building. I still don’t think there was anything wrong with the old building either though.

How do you rate a library with stars? I’d give them 5, however they require a birthday to register a library card… really? So, I gave them a birth date… just not mine.
Probably one of the most up to date places in Vancouver only to be out done by the new Cineotopia when it opens in the next 2 months (Just a guess). Self checkout of your items, lots of room for laptops (wi-​fi & outlets), coffee & snacks plus a nice view of the skyline… now if someone would just plant some flowers in the lot next door.
Heck, I’d sneak over there & plant some NW wild flowers in the sandy soil, but there is a fence around it… not exactly sure why.
Oddly, the juvnile section is on the 3^rd floor just above the administration floor… I would have put it on the 5^th to put as much distance between escaping kids & the front door, but oh well.
Parking has never been a problem, but then I’m lucky enough to visit when others are normally at work which is also why if I work on on Friday, Saturday or Sunday I can’t use the library because they close at 6pm so when they place books on hold I have to wait until Monday to pick them up as I can no longer get books mailed to my house as they changed their policy some time ago.
The building is impressive, but I’m not sure how the staff & security people I have seen on the 1^st floor when you enter will be such fans next summer when the Sun is beating down on them every day all day long through the ground to 4^th floor windows facing almost directly SE. At least they will get their fill of vitamin D.

I think for the Portland region, the Vancouver new main library is a reset and challenge to all the other branches in the area to ‘think about what a library can be’ not what a library already is.
This library has some beautiful seating areas, great open spaces, huge windows and great views. The library system is working to grow for the 21^st century so there are lots of new spaces with computers on each floor. There are informational library staff located on each level with both text and pictorial markings to indicate who they are. New library has two small meeting rooms and one large auditorium. The auditorium can be open when the rest of the library isn’t.
Thatcher’s Coffee will be opening a coffee café in the browsing library, but its opening has been delayed and is marked as «coming soon.»
For an idea of what a library similar to this one is like, if you’ve visited the Salt Lake City system’s main library, the Seattle Public Library’s main branch or even the Beaverton Library, you can have a general idea.