Central Library

Pasadena's Central Library was designed by the firm of Myron Hunt and H.C. Chambers, the architects of the Huntington Library and Occidental College. The Pasadena Central Library is on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been the location for several major motion pictures. The facility is visited by an average of more than 55,000 people each month.

Central Library

285 East Walnut Street Pasadena, CA 91101
(626) 744-4066 | Map | Public Transportation | Main Floor Guide
Enjoy a delicious coffee at the Central Grounds Coffee Bar

Parking at Central Library

In an effort to alleviate some of the parking congestion at Central Library, the Parking Enforcement section of Public Works patrols and monitors the patron parking lot. Parking Enforcement personnel enforce a 3 hour time limit for the parking lot, as well as cite persons parking in the library lot who are not using the library.  If you are planning on using the library for longer than the three hour limit, you may want to consider using one of the pay for use facilities in the library area.

Please contact Parking Enforcement for further information regarding the parking enforcement, citation and appeals policies of the City of Pasadena.

Public transportation options are also available.

Services and Programs

For more information about programs here and throughout the Pasadena Public Library, you can visit our Library Calendar.

Children's Programs 

Infant and Toddler Storytimes on Tuesdays.  (Pre-registration required for Infant and Toddler Storytimes. Call for information on how to sign up or see our Storytime Registration page.)   Preschool Films Fridays at 10:00 a.m. Family Storytime Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. For special events, pre-registration and holiday programs, call (626)744-4066, option 4.

Captioned Films

All films in this series are captioned for the hearing-impaired, and are shown free of charge at 1:00 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium of the Central Library. Click here for film listings.

Service to the Homebased

This program is designed to provide library materials to anyone who is a resident of Pasadena and is confined to their homes or convalescent centers due to illness, injury or disability.  For more detail see Services to the Homebased, or call (626)744-4066, option 7.

Volunteer Program

 The Pasadena Public Library Volunteer Program gives interested individuals an opportunity to serve the community in a variety of categories, assisting library staff or the general public. If interested, applications are available at any Pasadena Public Library circulation desk. Complete the application and return it to any Pasadena Public Library location.  For more information, visit our Volunteer Opportunities page or call  (626) 744-7270.  

Central Grounds

The East Patio area has been remodeled into a place for people to relax and enjoy food and drink, in our new Central Grounds. Hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, salads and pastries are all available for purchase.

Pasadena Public Library Tours

The Pasadena Central Library, which opened in 1927, is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Various library tours are available for free. 

Computers at the Library

Pasadena Public Library has a wide variety of computers and computerized resources available to our patrons on a regular basis. Click here for an overview of the resources and how to make use of them.  Except as noted, the computers are available free of charge for a limited amount of time per day, but there are fees for printing, in most cases 10 cents per page printed.

Donald R. Wright Auditorium

The Central Library's Donald R. Wright Auditorium accommodates 142 people, with 35 additional seats available on request. Priority for auditorium use is given first to Library sponsored events, second to City-sponsored events and third to Pasadena based groups. All others will be given consideration on a first-come/first served basis. The Library reserves the right to preempt any event for a Library or City-sponsored event. Call (626)744-4066, option 5, on Tuesdays or Thursdays only to reserve the auditorium and to learn about Library policies about using this or other library meeting rooms. For a schedule of events in the auditorium, you can visit our Library Calendar

Ernestine Avery Children's Wing

Previously known as the Peter Pan Room and later the Boys and Girls Room, the Children's Wing was dedicated on April 21, 1990 as the Ernestine Avery Children's Wing.

Collection

With more than 60,000 books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and videos for children and their parents, the collection is a treasure trove of bestsellers, popular reading and classic books, nonfiction books for homework and research reports, and an extensive folktale collection (over 2,000 volumes) arranged by country of origin. Spanish language books are also available.

Computer Resources

Four computer workstations with educational computer games, as well as access to online databases for children and live homework help online tutoring are available. The Peek-a-Book station gives short read-alouds for recommended picture storybooks for preschoolers.

Services and Programs

Reference and reader's advisory services are available at the children's room desk all hours that the library is open. Storytimes for babies, toddlers and preschoolers are presetned weekly (registration is required for the baby and toddler storytimes). Each month during the school year, approximately 35 classes from local schools visit the Children's Wing for literature-based programs, browsing and checking out books. In FY 2005/2006, the Central Library Children's Room conducted 452 programs for children with 14,755 in attendance. Of these, 183 were class visits with 3,880 in attendance.  

Central Library Collection

Over 728,000 items are held at the Central Library and the nine branch libraries. The library collection offers a broad choice of circulating print and non-print materials aimed at meeting the informational needs of the Pasadena community. The Central Library has strong general reference, business, local history and periodicals collections. A high priority is placed on acquiring information and resources about Pasadena, past and present. The Library is a 25% depository for United States documents, and a partial depository for State of California documents. City of Pasadena reports, agendas, and minutes of boards and commissions are available for public review at the Central and branch libraries. The collection contains electronic resources including access to the Internet (both traditional and wireless), CD-ROMs and Information Access Company's InfoTrac periodical and newspaper indexes. For more information, call (626)744-4066, option 7.

Central Library Characteristics