There are 63 locations in Queens. The "headquarters" of the Queens Library is typically considered to be the Central Library, located in Jamaica; their newest building (in terms of building age, not time of establishment) is the Flushing Library, which comes a close second. If you ever get a postcard of a Queens Library building, it'll probably be that of the Flushing branch. If there's any sign of either two buildings being a powerhouse, it's the fact that they'll occasionally have hours on Sunday (insert amazed gasp here).
I believe the only reason Central is still the headquarters and not Flushing is because among the collection, Central houses the most "technical" information - if you're doing research, Central is really the only place to go, the rest of the libraries are useless for this sort of thing (alternatively, you use the NYPL).
Here's the official list, in alphabetical order (taken from queenslibrary.org but in order to add value to this write-up, I've added my own experiences plus a nifty guide on how to get there for those who find Queens a complex and dangerous place. The website has a "map it" link for those who drive, but who the hell drives in NYC? I'm giving walking/train/bus directions):
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Arvene
312 Beach 54 Street
Arverne, NY 11692
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Astoria
14-01 Astoria Boulevard
Long Island City, NY 11102
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Auburndale
25-55 Francis Lewis Boulevard
Flushing, NY 11358
Directions: The bus Q16 will take you a block or two away. Get off on any block on Francis Lewis Boulevard on that particular bus and you'll find it pretty quickly.
The Library Itself: Small, cute, and for some reason has a pretty good sci-fi/fantasy section. Every time I do a search for a specific book, Auburndale has it. Beats me the reason why.
Interesting Things to Do There: There is a small community around that branch, mostly of bakeries and grocery stores. Nothing much. From what I understand of it, Francis Lewis Boulevard itself is home to modded car racers, ala Fast and Furious style.
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Baisley Park
117-11 Sutphin Boulevard
Jamaica, NY 11436
(note: Never been here, judging from the address, it looks like it's near the LIRR Jamaica station, the Sutphin Boulevard station on the E/V, Q20, Q44, etc., and the Queens courts. But someone will have to enlighten me about this one.)
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Bay Terrace
18-36 Bell Boulevard
Bayside, NY 11360
Directions: Buses Q13 or Q28 will take you there, Q13 is preferable because you'll actually see the library en route, while Q28 takes a bit of walking. Either way, it's a few blocks away from the Bay Terrace Mall; get off at the mall and start walking (for Q28 people, you'll have to walk through the mall to the other side, past the Barnes & Noble to get to the block that the Q13 route uses) Follow the Q13 route (i.e., follow the bus signs) towards Ft Totten and you'll see it on your left, a block or two past a gas station and the Bay Terrace mall.
The Library Itself: Small. Very cute. Can't think of anything out of ordinary, but its main feature is that it's near some interesting places.
Interesting Things to Do Around there: Aside from the library, there is the mall! Stores include Walbaums, Barnes & Noble (a very nice one, I might add, and the only one for miles around), Applebees, Outback, Express Women & Men, Gap, and a Sony Loews theater. There are a couple of other things there but really very inconsequential.
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Bayside
214-20 Northern Boulevard
Bayside, NY 11361
Directions: Q13, Q31 by bus; Bayside Station on the LIRR on the Port Washington route. It's right by the crossroad between Northern Boulevard and Bell Boulevard.
The Library Itself: Small (as usual). Biggest benefit is the neighborhood there.
Interesting Things to Do Around There: Bell Boulevard is a very entertaining neighborhood. It has a strong "old school" air (read: not overwhelmed by recent (1980 and on) immigrants) and has a lively night life. Mostly food. There is a White Castle (these are rare in NYC, trust me), Pizzeria Uno, North Fork Bank, Tiger Schulman's Karate Club thing, and various restaurants of the steak/Japanese/Korean type. There is also Slate, an awesome pool hall that serves dark chocolate martinis. They are good. You can also walk or take the bus to the Bay Terrace mall, if you feel like it (it's 20 blocks down, on 24th Ave). All in all, a nice area.
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Bellerose
250-06 Hillside Avenue
Bellerose, NY 11426
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Briarwood
85-12 Main Street
Briarwood NY 11435
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Broad Channel
16-26 Cross Bay Boulevard
Broad Channel, NY 11693
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Broadway
40-20 Broadway
Long Island City, NY 11103
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Cambria Heights
220-20 Linden Boulevard
Cambria Heights, NY 11411
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Central
89-11 Merrick Boulevard
Jamaica, NY 11432
Directions: MTA F train to 169 Street (2nd to last stop before Jamaica). Someone will have to enlighten me about bus routes. It's approximately a 4-5 block walk from the train station.
The Library Itself: Huge. Busy. This is by far the most useful library if you're doing research. There are several floors to this library, though I believe the basement and sub-basement is closed off to customers; if you want a book from there, you need to hand in a slip to the librarian, who will fetch it for you. I don't know if they still use this system or not, but the fetching is a fun and clever thing to watch: the slip goes to a small minature elevator, which goes downstairs, where somebody picks it up, retrieves the book, and puts it in same elevator for you to pick up. This may or may not be the case anymore, as I've not visited Central in the last five years.
Interesting Things To Do Around There: If I remember, nothing. Jamaica is also where many of the buses get deposited for the night, and so it is nothing more than a giant, vast, empty warehouse.
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Corona
42-11 104 Street
Corona, NY 11368
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Court Square
25-01 Jackson Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101
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Douglaston/Little Neck
249-01 Northern Boulevard
Little Neck, NY 11363
Directions: This might be the one of the few libraries where I don't think there are any feasible ways of getting there by public transportation. I have not been inside the library, but I know where it is - and it's out the very outer edge of Queens, practically in Long Island. Either some sort of Nassau bus or LIRR station must stop there, but for the life of me I don't know what does. Anyone know?
Interesting Things to Do Around There: Not sure. I know there is a Sizzlers there, as well as a Red Lobster. There are also an alarming number of motels there, for some reason. There's also a Sam Won Gak, a Korean-Chinese restaurant which, if it's anything like the one closer to Flushing, has some very delicious brown sauce noodles, known as jajangmyun.
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East Elmhurst
95-06 Astoria Boulevard
East Elmhurst, NY 11369
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East Flushing
196-36 Northern Boulevard
Flushing, NY 11358
Directions: Q13 or Q12 will take you directly in front of it. If you are heading eastward, you'll see it to your right. The end.
Interesting Things to Do Around There: Shop for cars, I suppose. There are a great many car dealerships around there. If you have a love for high end sports cars, there is a dealership there with two (count 'em, two!) Lamborghinis there, don't know what year (does it matter?). There is also a delicious gyro place, if I recall correctly. This is one of the few libraries that is very easy to access to by car, as it is very near the Cross-Island Parkway.
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Elmhurst
95-06 Astoria Boulevard
East Elmhurst, NY 11369
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Far Rockaway
1637 Central Avenue
Far Rockaway, NY 11691
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Flushing
41-17 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11355
Directions: Main Street station, MTA 7 train (last stop); Flushing station, LIRR Port Washington train; just about half the buses in Queens (Flushing is the final stop for approximately 50% of the bus lines in Queens; the other half resides in Jamaica). Either way, once you get off at Main Street, either by bus or train or on foot, just ask a random passerby to give you directions; you are likely no more than 2 blocks away from the library. Honest. It's nestled right in the fork of Main Street and Kissena Blvd; there is no way you can miss the glass monstrosity.
The Library Itself: The Flushing branch has an interesting history. The original location is right where it is now, but it was, once upon a time, a small little brick number with an inaccessible park that was home to a lot of pigeons. It was also a single floor. Times changed, the Queens library got a lot of money, so they closed Flushing down to build that huge monstronsity you see today, and for a few years was located a few blocks down in a crappy little number close to Northern Boulevard.
Bonus Note: If you look at the walls of the new library, the etched oddities you see on it are the five stages of mitosis. The staircases are etched with authors and booknames in various different languages. The library is four floors of fun and glory; the second floor has a glass room that is completely soundproof if you should wish to study there.
Interesting Things to Do Around There: Flushing is ethnically diverse - within a few blocks you'll see a strong Chinese (Mandarin dialect) community, a strong Korean community, and a strong Indian community (anyone know what dialect is spoken here?). You can eat here; there are a ton of restaurants - Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, you name it. Eating and reading, what more do you want? If there is any recommendation I can make, there is a dumpling stand by the Starbucks there that sells 4 fried dumplings for $1. Best with smeared with Sriracha sauce. Mm.
P.S. If you love buying games, legitimately, there are quite a lot of places around here that you can buy them tax free. Just wander around and walk into random odd looking shops. I can think of at least 4 places around there that don't charge sales tax.
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Forest Hills
108-19 71 Avenue
Forest Hills, NY 11375
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Fresh Meadows
193-20 Horace Harding Expressway
Fresh Meadows, NY 11365
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Glen Oaks
256-04 Union Turnpike
Glen Oaks, NY 11004
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Glendale
78-60 73 Place
Glendale, NY 11385
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Hillcrest
187-05 Union Turnpike
Flushing, NY 11366
Directions: Q17 and Q75.
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Hollis
202-05 Hillside Avenue
Hollis, NY 11423
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Howard Beach
92-06 156 Avenue
Howard Beach, NY 11414
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Jackson Heights
35-51 81 Street
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Directions: MTA 7 train to Jackson Heights station. Is three blocks away. Someone will have to enlighten me about buses there.
Interesting Things to Do There: Jackson Heights is also very ethnically diverse - heavy Hispanic population, with a small Korean population as well. Lots of shopping - cheap slutty clothing and shoes, if I recall. There are side vendors, too. No names jump out in mind, but that's largely because Jackson Heights is the height of small business. Oh, do try the churros around there.
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Kew Garden Hills
72-33 Vleigh Place
Flushing, NY 11367
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Langston Hughes
100-01 Northern Boulevard
Corona, NY 11368
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Laurelton
134-26 225 Street
Laurelton, NY 11413
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Lefferts
103-34 Leffers Boulevard
Richmond Hill, NY 11419
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Lefrak City
98-30 57 Avenue
Corona, NY 11368
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Maspeth
69-70 Grand Avenue
Maspeth, NY 11378
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McGoldrick
155-06 Roosevelt Avenue
Flushing, NY 11354
Directions: Q13, Q28 to 155 Street on Northern Boulevard. Just get off at 155 Street and you'll see it.
The Library Itself: A small brick affair with an especially large children's section (takes up half the library). Since the neighborhood around there is heavily Asian, there is a sizable Korean and Chinese section. This includes DVDs! Do borrow some of the Asian DVDs, especially since many of them are subtitled in English and can be very entertaining.
Interesting Things to Do Around Here: There's not much. There is a heavy Korean population around this neighborhood, and they just recently opened a Han Ah Reum (Korean supermarket) in the mini mall thing next to McGoldrick. There is also a bakery across the street. If you are Korean, there does happen to be a Ssamzie store a block down (this is a fairly popular - at least in Korea, anyway - accessory store that sells hideously expensive shoes, bags, the works). This might be the only area where the really big draw happens to be the library itself.
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Middle Village
72-31 Metropolitan Avenue
Middle Village, NY 11379
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Mitchell-Linden
29-42 Union Street
Flushing, NY 11354
Directions: Q20, Q44, Q16, Q14 to 32nd Avenue. It's two blocks down.
The Library Itself: A very small affair, this is a happy heaven for little kids because the children's section takes up the whole basement (and has lots of nice areas to sit in). Good to leave your kids here while you go shopping for food.
Interesting Things to Do Around There: There's shopping at the Korean supermarket, Han Ah Reum. There's also a post office. It's also next door to P.S. 214. This area has nothing, if you catch my drift. Unless you have kids. If you are willing to walk, you are about a 20 minute walk away from the Whitestone/College Point Cinemas and a Toys 'R Us if you want to catch a movie or buy toys. You're also not that far from the New York Times printing plant, if that interests you any.
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North Forest Park
98-27 Metropolitan Avenue
Forest Hills, NY 11375
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North Hills
57-04 Marathon Parkway
Little Neck, NY 11362
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Ozone Park
92-24 Rockaway Boulevard
Ozone Park, NY 11417
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Peninsula
92-25 Rockaway Beach Boulevard
Rockaway Beach, NY 11693
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Pomonok
158-21 Jewel Avenue
Flushing, NY 11365
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Poppenhusen
121-23 14 Avenue
College Point, NY 11356
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Queens Village
94-11 217 Street
Queens Village, NY 11428
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Queensboro Hill
60-05 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11355
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Queensbridge
10-43 41 Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101
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Ravenswood
35-32 21 Street
Long Island City, NY 11106
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Rego Park
91-41 63 Drive
Rego Park, NY 11374
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Richmond Hill
118-14 Hillside Avenue
Richmond Hill, NY 11418
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Ridgewood
20-12 Madison Street
Ridgewood, NY 11385
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Rochdale Village
169-09 137 Avenue
Jamaica, NY 11434
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Rosedale
144-20 243 Street
Rosedale, NY 11422
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St. Albans
191-05 Linden Boulevard
St. Albans, NY 11412
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Seaside
116-15 Rockaway Beach
Rockaway Park, NY 11694
Directions: MTA A or S train to Rock Park.
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South Hollis
201-01 Hollis Avenue
South Hollis, NY 11412
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South Jamaica
108-41 Guy R. Brewer Boulevard
Jamaica, NY 11433
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South Ozone Park
128-16 Rockaway Boulevard
South Ozone Park, NY 11420
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Steinway
21-45 31 Street
Long Island City, NY 11105
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Sunnyside
43-06 Greenpoint Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11104
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Whitestone
151-10 14 Road
Whitestone, NY 11357
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Windsor Park
79-50 Bell Boulevard
Bayside, NY 11364
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Woodhaven
85-41 Forest Parkway
Woodhaven, NY 11421
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Woodside
54-22 Skillman Avenue
Woodside, NY 11377