Library of Birmingham
Library Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square, Broad St, Birmingham B1 2EA, United Kingdom:
220 reviews
of visitors, the most complete information about the address, business hours, location on the map, photos, phone number, website and other contacts.
Address: Centenary Square, Broad St, Birmingham B1 2EA, United Kingdom
Website: birmingham.spydus.co.uk
Phone number: +44 121 242 4242
GPS coordinates
Latitude: 52.4797078Longitude: -1.9085044
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reviews
John Dobbs
Amazing place to visit and enjoy every weekend.
2 months ago
Destiny candido
Spectacular views! It was a rainy day but it was worth a visit, will be back when the sun is out! Recommend to view the Shakespeare Memorial Room!
3 weeks ago
dinesh m
The worst place I have ever been since the old Central Library was closed down. Library should be a place to study in a quite and calm environment but this place is full of hustle and bustle and noises of escalators and other things. On top, when I visited today , I came to know that Library will open at 11:00 am. What kind of public library is this? There was a construction work going on in front of the library. What's the Birmingham City Council doing? It is just wasting of tax payer money. Where was the planning department when this library was built. There was bin men strike since June and City Council was sleeping. We should stop paying council tax and took Birmingham City Council to court for wasting the tax payers money and not providing the services. BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL is the worst council.
2 weeks ago
Santosh Sarkar
Easily accessible to each level. Clear signposts, the reference section staff on level 4 are particularly helpful. There is a wide range of publications such as newspapers???? going back into the 19th century. These are available on microfiche. Well worth a visit and a coffee is on the ground floor.☕
2 weeks ago
Richard Torrao
Good library. Has plenty of books, loads of space and if you need plugs for your laptop, go to the second floor.
4 months ago
Kyle Silva
Great asset to my city.
3 months ago
Brett Henderson
Really nice inside when it's quiet.
3 months ago
Casey Robinson
I worked here for over five years. It is more than a building with books and computers. The Library of Birmingham has the finest staff any library service could hope for. They are dedicated, often underappreciated and a shining example of the best that Birmngham has to offer. It is worth mentioning that the Business and IP Centre on level 3 is the largest source of FREE business information in the country.
3 months ago
Victoria Lesce
Beautiful building which is just a good a place to work as it is to visit - there two different balconies to look over Birmingham, both with lovely gardens and benches to sit on. The work spaces are fun and good for individuals or groups of people. Wide variety of books too.
6 months ago
Rich Palmer
A tour of this building is a must for any visitor (or indeed locals). Make sure you visit some of the outdoor garden terraces which are splendid. Make sure you visit the top floor where the Shakespeare Memorial Room is situated; you can get some great views of the City from here.
10 months ago
Ameen Rauf
Navigating the museum is literally a visual feast. All of the intricate details really do make it a fantastic place to visit. From the secret garden, to the great glass elevator, it brings some of the magical feeling back to visiting the library.
6 months ago
Graham McCullough
Massive library with massive variety of books and a lovely place to come and read book
5 months ago
Mo mo
Nice place to study or work. Free WiFi and other conveniently placed amenities.
8 months ago
Hector Rivera
Amazing building, great facilities. Usually quite busy. Would be good if the open hours were longer. 5pm is too early.
4 months ago
nate young
Just now the printing machine at @LibraryofBham swallowed my £2 coins,yet my print jobs didn’t come up, and when I asked for a refund, the staff & the senior manager said they haven’t got a refund procedure unless they witnessed me inserting the money into the machine. Upsetting! Unless they have a staff just to aid printing, how would they expect a customer to have a witness? £2 is a lot of money, I can use them to donate a new secondhand book to the lib, to donate them to a homeless charity, etc. They need a better procedure to make sure this doesn’t happen again, esp to someone whose £2 might buy them food or in desperate of printing CVs for a job. Or perhaps they should have an information board on the printing station that says “Please ensure you call us and have a staff witnessing you in case of financial problems and potential refund issue”. I am so appalled that their staff & manager easily said “sorry, no refund procedure” and shook it off easily.
3 weeks ago
Urmiket Patel
The library is very spacious inside. Located on the ground floor when you walk in they have a cafe. I would definitely recommend going onto the 2nd floor terraced/balcony area and seeing the views of Birmingham. On a hot day, you can see from Colemore Row to Broadstreet. The library is very modern inside.
4 months ago
Keenan H
Really good place for a day out. Wonderful place to spend with family and friends or even enjoy a great view of the city. Staff are lovely, but opening hours are ridiculous. It's a library not a takeaway shop. Please improve!
3 weeks ago
Rafael Adams
I absolutely HATE the new opening times, am sure many people including students like myself can agree. Please change it back to the old times or at least bring back the weekend times. Overall its a beautiful and wonderful place to study with kind and willing to help staff.
9 months ago
Darlene Legette
Beautiful building absolutely stunning great for books reading or working on your laptop. There's even a secret garden on the roof. U can see the whole of birmingham its amazing
5 months ago
Artist Lewis
hideous and tacky, prefered john madin’s brutalist style of architecture, what a disappointment.
3 months ago
Mark Schumann
PROS:
- beautiful design outside and inside (modern, bright and spacious),
- so many levels and so many books (not all can be checked-out),
- two cafés on two different levels,
- chairs, desks and computers are provided for members (charging too),
- worth visiting even if you are not a member.
CONS:
- there could be more seating provided (we were walking around for a while, but everything was occupied),
- completely weird/useless opening times, unless you are a tourist (it only opens at 11am and closes at 5pm already).
5 months ago
britny button
Thank you so much to Phil, I was the absolute customer from hell trying to print off an email attachment and I messed it up in every way several times but Phil did everything he could possibly have done to help even after I rudely answered a phone call while taking to him. This is what I call fantastic customer service!
6 months ago
Newbe eee
Really beautiful & unique architecture. Good for kids to learn new things and explore. Lift system needs improving. Good view of Birmingham from top floor.
3 weeks ago
Armani Baston
As soon as I walked in and went up the first escalator I was greeted by a sight that made my heart flutter, truth be told I felt like Belle when she first saw the beasts library!! Love at first sight
3 weeks ago
Linden Coffey
The library is a fabulous resource and the staff are generally friendly and helpful. However when I tried to find a new acquisition of arrangements of music from Asia, the librarian who I approached for help said Good luck with that, and It'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
3 months ago
CRUYFF WORLD
Love this place. I feel like Matilda
3 weeks ago
Connie Howard
Centrally located library building for use by the residents of Birmingham and visitors to this great city. It shares its space with the Rep theatre and the BrassHouse language centre. It is run by the Library of Birmingham Trust.
7 months ago
Carl Evans
Excellent working environment, and feels quite comfortable. Not sure of the exact figure, but the thermostat is at just the right temperature. The only thing is that the toilets are quite hard to find.
6 months ago
jonathon ballard
We are so lucky to have such a beautiful building as the library in Birmingham. Endless selection of books, wonderful staff, handy cafe, beautiful viewing terraces and high escalators that feel endless this place is one of my favorite spots in Birmingham.
As per library membership I love that they have a growing number of e-books which helps keeping the habit going! :) Thank you all the staff at Birmingham Library, I feel privileged to have the services you provide. The escalators are also realy realy realy realy realy realy fun.
6 months ago
Haniel Jedson
I wouldn't call this place a library! Which library allows you to make noises loud as an orangutan? ????
The building looks very hideous like a broken mattress with spokes popping out in all directions.
The staff are bloody clueless while ducking and diving their sheer responsibilities when they feel like it and I have seen this at close range as well as the arrogant security staff who can be very heavy-handed when they want to be.
The opening times are very appalling and the books are very limited as well as the computers on the lower ground very-outdated. Toilets are filthy and open and shut at a particular time.
2 months ago
Hutchins Wang
Really good place to learn and it’s free to Everyone
3 months ago
Thomas Sorrentino
Although Europe's largest library it's not open long enough as the old library was for me to enjoy after work which I really liked as a student I would be in there right up until 8/9pm made it easier to get resources for assignments.
6 months ago
John Bill
Great place to visit
1 month ago
Alissa McCollum
Asthetically pleasing but with the current opening times that is all you can pretty much do: look at the cover rather than the contents within. Oh well what to expect from Birmingham City council... Ironically the motto is 'forward' yet in planning it's the thing they lack.
7 months ago
Christopher Clinton
Amazing place if you are a bookworm ????????
8 months ago
Steven Thauriaux
Considering its the largest library on Europe, the opening and closing times are diabolical. 11-5, amazing build but lacks books ironically. Its more a meet up place than an actual library
3 weeks ago
Dan Malloy
cheap noisy escalators that you can hear groaning through every floor of the building.
it's just for show, not a practical or useful library for finding a book; the staff have no idea where book sections are... but who can blame them, When whole sections and genres are split up into separate sections WHOLE FLOORS AWAY FROM EACH OTHER.
If you manage to actually find a book without the help of the Apple Store wannabe employees and the constantly screeching escalators than the library will probably be closing before you've even got a chance to check it out.
A perfect library for this city.
10 months ago
Redanna Blevins
Lovely library! great selection of books of course but with so much more!
Brilliant architecture too!
7 months ago
Tanay Russkih
It was beautiful, the chairs are so comfortable, and the outside terrace view was amazing. Even the interior is far better than any library I've seen so far.
2 weeks ago
Yehoshua Fried
Very disappointed. I went to do research for my dissertaion and I found one book that was relevant to my topic to find out it was for use within the library only. I'm pretty sure the point of a library is to borrow books? I checked a number of other books and they were also not available for loan. I found it very difficult to find the section I wanted and only found it by chance rather than any sort of helpful sign. Tiny sections for each topic. Badly designed building that has left very little room for a decent range of books. I never write reviews but I am baffled by the whole experience.
6 months ago
Francesca Darco
A wonderful design with gardens on 2 levels offering good views over the city. Take the escalators up to the 3rd floor and admire the fantastic circular design.
8 months ago
Tyler Kroeker
Great space in the heart of the City, what a tremendous building, inspiring and awesome
3 months ago
Brittany Mcclure
Mad place. Bare books to dive into. Smells like some peng ting coffee. Banged my elbow in a locker when i was trying to get of it. The gardens are pretty mad but went on rainy day so my sleeves got wet (must point out nothing else did) .
To conclude great place needs to baby proof a little bit.
2 weeks ago
Mark Briggs
Awesome and enjoyable. Layouts could be better defined and ease of literature location could be improved but a beacon of culture and education for Birmingham.
3 weeks ago
victor rangel
You can get some great views from the top of Birmingham and it is nice to just sit on the secret roof gardens when its sunny for a bit of fresh air after using their computers for a while.
3 months ago
S Baliga
Still very much a 'Marmite' building - you generally either love it, or hate it. I'm slowly veering towards the former, despite the reduction in opening hours, and the ridiculous amount of public money that was spent on the new website. Definitely worth a visit, even if it's only to zoom up to the roof garden for the fabulous views over the city.
10 months ago
Anne Meddaugh
Such a big facility to be closing that early!
What a shame looks more like a learning center to me nowadays. There might as well just changed their name! and that henchman with the 'hat' whose always On people's faces like a (bouncer in the club)
4 months ago
dbhakti mohapatra
great place - I loved the top floor
3 months ago
Avery Tribett
Impressive building, great outdoor terraces and fascinating how the building spaces reveal themselves; however, not opening on Sunday is a great shame, 11am opening during the week is also not good enough. The city must fund the library so staff don't have to buy the books (!) and the opening hours reflect the communities needs.
6 months ago
Valentin Volkov
Great place to study, my friend who is SELF EMPLOYED read this article, and has since invested in a personal pension plan, realism stuck home ????, it's not nice being old ???? and not enough money to live
3 months ago
