M Whitt

Review of Schertz Public Library

Stay far, far away! Despite their lack or selectio...

Stay far, far away! Despite their lack or selection of books in the children's area (with no inter-library loan program that I was able to find) and their abnormally small limit on the number of items your allowed to check out, we chose to use this library any way because it was the closest to us. Big mistake! I have been using this library for 3 months now and it has been nothing but frustration and pain.

Due to the limited selection, 99% of the time I was not able to find the books that I wanted to check out and would have to put a hold in online. (Their lack of organization didn't help, but I usually checked in the computer just to be sure and they were almost always checked out.) When items were placed on the hold shelf, they were held for less than a week. Therefore, if they were placed on the shelf later in the day (after my visit) or the next day, I would have to make a special trip just to pick-up books rather than waiting until our next weekly visit. Majority of the books that we were able to check out were in some of the worst shape I've ever seen from library books (or any books for that matter). Often there was tape/mending done on every single page of the book. It also looked like the official "Schertz Library" stamp was given to a toddler who proceeded to stamp every third page or so.

Separate from my grievances with the books and general library system, the staff is some of the most unhelpful I've encountered to date. I often stood waiting for extended periods of time at the help desk in the children's area trying to figure out where the librarian could possibly be. One time I stood there for about 15 minutes and watched the librarian talk to a friend across the room. Periodically she would look up at me like "oh, you're still there" and then continue her conversation. When they finally finished their conversation in their own sweet time, she slowly made her way over to the desk and asked if she could help me with anything.

It seems like this library was given a lot of money to build a fancy building, and in that project they lost sight of the purpose of a library. I feel like visiting at least once a week every week for 3 months is more than enough time to "give them a chance". This location gives libraries a bad name and I for one don't want to support them.