Chicago libraries

This guide is for Chicagoans who have a library card in a drawer and have not used it lately, for new residents deciding whether a card is worth the trip, and for parents looking for free things to do on a Saturday. It covers the central library downtown, a handful of neighborhood branches with a real reason to go, the free programs and museum passes that come with a card, the maker labs and studios, and the big suburban libraries just past the city line.

Chicago Public Library runs more than 80 locations. Most are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays, with weekday closings at 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. The card is the key to almost everything below. You apply in person at any branch with a photo ID that shows a Chicago address.

Harold Washington Library Center

The main library sits at 400 S. State St. in the South Loop, on the block bounded by State, Van Buren and Plymouth Court. The building opened on October 7, 1991, and is named for Harold Washington, the city’s first Black mayor. Look up before you go in: architect Thomas Beeby’s roofline carries five huge owls, and the great horned owl over the State Street entrance is 20 feet tall and clutches an open book.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The main number is (312) 747-4300.

What is on each floor

Holds and new movies are on the 1st floor, the Thomas Hughes Children’s Library is on the 2nd, the Maker Lab and computers are on the 3rd, Chicago history and genealogy are on the 6th, and music scores and practice rooms are on the 8th.

The Winter Garden is the reason to ride the elevator all the way up. It is a skylit, plant-filled hall on the 9th floor, open for studying, and about the best free seat downtown in January. Special Collections is on the same floor, with material on Chicago neighborhoods, parks, theater, the world’s fairs and the Civil War. The reading room is by appointment only, Mondays and Fridays from noon to 4 p.m.; call (312) 747-4875 first.

Study rooms are on floors 5 through 8. You can book up to two weeks ahead, but use is capped at four hours a week and one session of up to two hours a day. Musicians can reserve a practice room a week ahead at (312) 747-4800; solo rooms are one hour a day unless nobody is waiting.

Getting there

Take the L. The Brown, Orange, Pink and Purple lines stop at Harold Washington Library-State/Van Buren, on the corner of the building, and the Red and Blue lines both have Jackson stations a block or two north. LaSalle Street Metra station is a short walk west. The library has no parking lot of its own. CPL lists nearby garages, including a 24-hour self-park at 318 S. Federal St. Meters are expensive and scarce. Weekday afternoons get busy once school lets out, and the computers fill up fast.

Neighborhood branches worth a visit

Sulzer Regional, Lincoln Square

Sulzer, at 4455 N. Lincoln Ave. in Lincoln Square, is one of the three regional libraries. The reason to go is the Northside Neighborhood History Collection, which holds photos and papers from more than a dozen North Side neighborhoods. Appointments run Tuesday through Thursday, 1 to 5 p.m.; call (312) 742-4455. Sulzer also has a Maker Lab on the 2nd floor. Street parking only. The Montrose and Western stops on the Brown Line are each a walk of several blocks.

Chinatown

The Chinatown branch at 2100 S. Wentworth Ave. opened in August 2015. The two-story building has a partly planted roof, an interior shaped by feng shui principles and wide city views. The branch carries Chinese-language books. The Cermak-Chinatown Red Line stop is about a block away. There is a paid lot east of the building.

Three branches with apartments upstairs

In 2019 CPL and the Chicago Housing Authority opened three branches with public and affordable housing built above them, each worth a look for the architecture. Independence, at 4024 N. Elston Ave. in Irving Park, was designed by John Ronan Architects and has a stepped seating staircase and a children’s area you can see from the second-floor stacks. It has covered parking out back, rare for a city branch. Little Italy, at 1336 W. Taylor St., is a single-level branch designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Only nine spaces in its shared lot are for library users. Northtown, at 6800 N. Western Ave. in West Ridge, was designed by Perkins+Will and has a courtyard and a lot off Pratt Boulevard.

Woodson Regional, Washington Heights

Woodson, at 9525 S. Halsted St., is the South Side regional library and home of the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, which CPL describes as the largest African American history and literature collection in the Midwest. Woodson also has a Maker Lab and a parking lot off Halsted Street. See Good to know below before planning a research trip.

Obama Presidential Center

The newest branch is inside the Obama Presidential Center campus at 6021 S. Stony Island Ave. in Jackson Park. The branch has reading rooms, media areas, a teen recording studio and a Maker Lab, plus a shelf of books that were favorites of the Obama family. Hours differ by day, so check before you go. There is a paid garage on campus and some street parking.

One oddity: the Blackstone branch in Hyde Park, at 4904 S. Lake Park Ave., lists fishing poles among the things it lends.

Free programs and museum passes

As of June 1, 2026, CPL’s museum passes are digital. You reserve online at chipublib.org/digitalpasses through the statewide Explore More Illinois system, which CPL runs with the Reaching Across Illinois Library System and Museums in the Park, and you bring the printed or mobile confirmation on the day. The rules are simple:

• You must be a Chicago resident, 18 or older, with a physical CPL card in good standing.
• You can hold three active reservations at a time.
• Passes are good only on the date you picked, and some attractions will not take a phone screen.
• Bring a photo ID that matches the name on the pass.

Suburban residents who carry a reciprocal CPL card cannot use the digital passes, hotspots, OverDrive or hoopla, according to CPL’s library card FAQ. They can use their own library’s pass program instead.

The rest of the free list is long. CPL stopped charging overdue fines on most materials in 2019 and renews items automatically up to 15 times if nobody else is waiting. Adult cardholders can borrow a WiFi hotspot for up to three weeks at 18 branches, including Chinatown, Legler and Woodson. This fall CPL is running free Medicare sessions across the city, timed to the October 15 to December 7 enrollment period.

Maker labs and studios

The Maker Lab on the 3rd floor of Harold Washington opened in July 2013 as a six-month experiment, and CPL calls it the city’s first free public makerspace. It has 3D printers, laser cutters, Cricut cutters, and sewing and knitting machines. Workshops are free and supplies are usually included. Open shop needs no registration. Workshops are for ages 14 and up, and two children ages 10 to 13 can come with an adult. Show up on time: you lose your seat if you are more than five minutes late.

The Maker Lab now runs at eight locations: Harold Washington, Sulzer, Woodson, Legler (115 S. Pulaski Rd. in Garfield Park), Altgeld, Douglass, Whitney M. Young Jr. and the Obama Presidential Center. Schedules vary, so check the CPL events calendar before you haul a project across town.

For teens, YOUmedia is in every CPL location, with 3D printers, cameras, laptops and game consoles. The Harold Washington YOUmedia is for high school students only and asks first-timers to show a school ID. It has an in-house production studio.

Suburban library systems

If you live in a suburb, your home library probably has a CPL reciprocal agreement, and several of the big ones have maker spaces that rival downtown.

Evanston Public Library

The main library in Evanston is at 1703 Orrington Ave., a few blocks from the Davis stop on the Purple Line and the Davis Street Metra station. It has free underground parking off Orrington. The Innovation Station on the 3rd floor has a 3D printer and embroidery and serger machines for makers 12 and older, open Monday and Wednesday, 4 to 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Evanston cardholders get museum passes through both Explore More Illinois and the Museum Adventure Pass.

Skokie Public Library

Skokie’s library, at 5215 Oakton St., has The Studio, a drop-in space for ages 14 and up with two laser cutters, embroidery machines, vinyl cutters and a scanner for 35mm slides and negatives. Staff are on hand, and no registration is needed. Skokie cardholders can use both pass programs, and the library points SNAP recipients to the Museums for All program.

Oak Park Public Library

The main library at 834 Lake St. in Oak Park is within walking distance of the Green Line. The Creative Studio there has a drop-in Makery with a Glowforge laser cutter, sublimation printer and sewing machine, and a Media Lab with an audio booth that you reserve. Everything is free, but nothing can be left overnight.

Arlington Heights Memorial Library

Arlington Heights runs its Makerplace out of a separate building at 112 N. Belmont Ave., a few blocks from the main library at 500 N. Dunton Ave. The Makerplace is for adults, includes a teaching kitchen and posts a price list for some materials. It is closed Mondays and Fridays. Parking is behind the building and in the Recreation Park lot across the street.

Good to know

Checked September 28, 2026.

• The Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at Woodson is closed to researchers for building maintenance. CPL is aiming to reopen in November and keeps a waitlist.
• The West Chicago Avenue branch is temporarily closed for building improvements, and Galewood-Mont Clare is closed until further notice.
• The elevator at the West Loop branch, 122 N. Aberdeen St., is out of service.
• Special Collections at Harold Washington will not take appointments on November 27, 2026, and will open Tuesday, November 24, instead.
• Evanston Public Library is closed October 15 for a staff day and on Thanksgiving.

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