Olathe Public Library Reviews

Absolutely wonderful..everyone very courteous and helpful in making the voting experience pleasurable.

The staff was rude and didn't take to listen problems before given answers

It s beautiful. Don t get me wrong. The cafe is nice and I do like the fireplace. But it is so loud! It isn t really a library as much as a community center with books. I do appreciate that I can put books on hold and pick them up close to home. But if I want a quiet place to study or escape on a book, I ll be utilizing a different location. Again, it s beautiful. Just not really a library.

New high-tech public library that is newly remodeled. The place features multiple community rooms, 8 study rooms and even a cafe. Great kids area and teen rooms, maker space, recording studio and toddlers area. There are also outdoor gardens and play areas as part of the design.

This library is awesome what a great place for our community and children to learn in!

Awesome atmosphere, and the gaming room is fantastic.

Wonderful new location in a heavily renovated grocery store. Coffee, sandwich and sweets available. Bright and open. Many private and meeting spaces. Performance space. Large parking area. Book drop.

Awesome place with cool architecture! Lots of book, media selection and tools to use such as computers and 3d printers.

Love the library and love the staff. Can't wait until they are able to completely reopen!

Beautiful location, amazing amenities very clean and friendly staff, love the 3D printing room

The Maker Space staff was very helpful and I felt safe with their COVID protocols.

Hard-working people working behind the scenes here, and they do a great job. I also appreciate how high-mileage the Indian Creek website is. Visiting in person, the building is a little smaller and older than I'd like, but it's still a good place to read the periodicals I'm too cheap to buy.

This was the first time I've been to this library and I will not be back! There were adults talking loudly on cellphones (I could even hear the person on the other end of the phone from 2 tables away) and screaming children who's parents made no effort to quiet them down. I came to work with a group on a project, and our group was quieter than the majority of other library patrons. When I was younger, it was understood that there was library etiquette that everyone followed. I'm not sure what happened to that, but I sure didn't see observe it today! There is a library at town center 10 miles away- the drive is well worth it, to spend time with quiet and considerate people.

I love this location! I probably go three or four times a month. The staff is always fun and helpful. They go above and beyond for me on a regular basis to help me find books through interlibrary loan. Someone is always available to help me get what I need and they are always great to work with.

Good library. No much rush. Good programs for kids.

Curbside holds, customer service, and app... found to be lacking today.

I put a half dozen books on hold last week, and I used the pickup location "Olathe Indian Creek Curbside." I received an email a few days later letting me know that some of my holds were available.... *Inside* the library. (Photo attached.) Ummm okay. No big deal.

BTW, the JoCo library app DOESN'T rotate to landscape; so I couldn't use the app to verify the correct pickup method. That line is cut off... Another frustration.

So I drove to the library, parked in a regular spot, and went inside to get my books. But.. they weren't on the shelf. I still had several days remaining in my pickup window so I knew that wasn't the issue.

I walked back up front to customer service to explain the situation. I tried several times to explain to 2 reps that I used the Curbside method which is where my books must be, but the email was incorrect. They should let someone know that the automated email has the wrong information. They didn't get it. The first rep just explained I should go back outside, move my vehicle to a curbside spot, send the text, and wait.. They didn't understand that I was trying to ask them to pass the info on to their management... It took several attempts for either of the reps to understand that I DID originally use the correct pickup location, which should've been obvious because my items were IN THE CURBSIDE dept. I finally just asked them if they could call the curbside department and bring my items up front. I really didn't want to go move my vehicle.

It took less than a minute to receive my books. I thanked them and started to leave. But THEN the 2nd one told me that I still had to go check them out. UGH. So I walked BACK to the self-service kiosk near holds. (Neither one of them offered to check the books out for me.)

The whole experience marred by confusion, frustration, and lack of customer service.

* BOTTOM LINE *
If you know that you used the correct pickup location "...curbside" then just ignore the email and go to Curbside. The library admins are apparently behind in updating the email verbiage... and behind in making the app user friendly. In addition to supporting portrait only, the link for "locations" always causes the app to CRASH. SMH Our tax dollars hard at work.

This is a very modern library !! Well organized... Is has auditorium, study rooms, quite reading room, workstations... Great place to spend some time reading and/or getting things done!!

Beautiful, shiny building, the event hall is huge and comfortable

This is one of the most amazing stories in Olathe and ranks as the premier new local library in the Greater Kansas City area. It is a meeting place. It has beautiful landscaping and architecture that provide a relaxing venue and a state of the art maker place .

The Park Street Pastry second location in the library entry area is its best kept secret with the best pastry in Kansas City. The owner is a former pastry professor at the Johnson County Community College.

This library reflects the on-line evolution of libraries with even a viewing window to observe the electronic sorting of your books as you return them.

They just opened mid October ON TIME so they are waiting to see what the actual usage will be, but expect creativity in programming and look for increased community learning opportunities and meetings here.

One complaint:
In a library culture I don t know how they could do it, but this is one library that should have a 6:00am opening time for adults who have real jobs and seniors to take full advantage of the coffee and pastry shop for meetings. Library usage would double.

The staff is helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable. The small collection is excellent, with a selection of DVDs to watch, video games to play, books for adults and children, as well as more than a dozen computers for patrons to use. And, like all public libraries, it's all free. Fantastic.

Staff are friendly and helpful. They do a good job of helping you find the books that you are looking for.

I really enjoy the audio books that they have available and the people are friendly and very helpful

Great layout, areas for meeting spaces, great aesthetic and place to cultivate learning and create space for others to enjoy community with others. Staff are great and very helpful!

Modern feel with tons of natural light. Dedicated area for teens to study.

This is the loudest library I have been to in the United States. Taxpayers paid for an over the top library that doesn't have the children's area separated. The high ceilings make it a noisy place. Even in the "Quiet" reading room you can hear the kids screaming. I've seen children running around stacks of books. I will continue going to Johnson County Libraries. Enough with the noise.

He is always organized and they offer help very kindly. I love it.

Very nice and fancy, a large step up from the old location, I feel like Olathe tried hard with this and succeeded.

Love the courtesy and assistance. Excellent selections.

Great temporary location looking forward to the new location on Santa Fe. Good for computer services and printing save a lot of $ thank you Johnson County

Very nice library. Such an inspirational place to be! The staff are wonderful. The African American lady that cleans has such a beautiful attitude, it's always nice to see her. The ladies are the checkout are amazing!! They are always so professional and kind. The coffee is so overpriced though. Overall this library is excellent!

They have a wide variety of books, games, movies, and TV shows. The staff is very friendly. There's a teen zone for young adults to hang out at and a Maker's Space for all your creative needs. Unfortunately, not all resources from the library are available due to covid, but that doesn't demean the value of this library.

Loved the parking lot live concert. Stayed in car but such lovely weather the chair seats would have been nice. Thanks to the band and all the library staff and any volunteers for making a much needed night out happen. Beep Beep (how we applauded tonight)!

A TOTAL DISGRACE!!
Incompetent leadership at the Olathe Public library. Return drop box at 151st & Murlen has been out of service for 1 year. They should have had at a temporary replacement in place until the permanent one was put in place. No one in the area can return their library items.
Can't believe it takes them 360 days to put back a drop box.
Incompetent and slow staff who can't get anything done, they would be fired if they had a job at a private company.
Government money being wasted by these people.
A TOTAL DISGRACE!!

Lovely new high tech library! I LOVE the quiet reading room. Johnson County Libraries need to take note of this and in future renovations add this to their libraries. The little cafe and makers room are awesome additions in the library. For a new modern library this offers some softer and warmer features in its design, such as focused lighting on bookshelves rather than harsh overhead fluorescent lighting on the ceiling. The seating/chairs are covered in fabric rather than the plastic/pleather materials offered at JOCO Libraries. The fireplace wall is warm and inviting and a nice architectural feature. They even offer an outdoor courtyard, though it s much too cold to be out there on this visit.

Overall I am greatly impressed with this library. I suppose the only drawback is that it seems to be geared more towards children. There are certainly adult features like the quiet room, but sadly so many libraries today lose sight of the fact that many adults need and want to use libraries. I wish the reference section was a bit bigger and that they offered a specific genealogy section.

Coolest Library in Olathe. Modern, Clean and Comfortable.

The most innovative library in the country. Amazing place. More like a hangout area for the entire family. Plus, they still have books.

Touted as a wonderful new library, this place doesn't know what it wants to be, but it is certainly NOT worthy of being called a library. The space is open, airy has community spaces, a maker space, a cafe, a used bookstore, and, oh yeah, it does have a few books, too. The staff are always "busy" and tend to not be helpful and have, in my experience, been rude or condescending. The maker space is nice, but the reservation system is messed up and gaining access is difficult (see "staff are rude and not helpful" above). It seems Olathe wanted to copy Johnson County Library's design, but they failed miserably. the JoCo central library is great and meets both library and community needs - the Olathe one is just despicable. Oh, and the parking arrangement is the worst parking lot design I've ever seen. Overall, this is just an abysmal waste of time & money.

This is such a great library, I m thrilled to be a member here. They offer quiet conference rooms and silent reading rooms, but they also have a room for children to play video games and a complete maker space with classes! Also, you can place holds online and or checkout items from other Johnson County libraries of this location doesn t have what you need.

My daughter has participated in several of the (registered) summer programs for the first time, & so far they have exceeded my expectations. She has tried the Geocaching, CSI, Ductigami, and Soap Making programs & loved them all. They even provided popsicle treats for the kids. Great way to keep kids occupied during the summer.

Love our library system. Very clean, well stocked, safe for all.

Fiction section lacking, sweet fireplace, not as cozy as a library should be

Our family looks forward every week to going to the Indian Creek branch. The reference librarian in the children's department is always extremely helpful. In addition to a top notch book selection, this branch boasts an incredible video selection. To top it off, the assortment of Wii games makes it the best kept secret in Olathe for parents of young boys.