Librería is a bookshop. The library is la biblioteca.

Say you're studying at the librería all afternoon and people will wonder whether the shop minds.

You said

Voy a la librería a estudiar.

What it means: I'm going to the bookshop to study.

A local says

Voy a la biblioteca a estudiar.

I'm going to the library to study.

Why: A librería sells books. The place you borrow them from is la biblioteca.

Making plans with a classmate in Mexico City

Esta tarde voy a la librería a estudiar.

"¿Y te dejan? ¿No te corren?"

Both words come from libro, so the slip is natural. A librería is where books are sold. English took library from the same Latin root, but Spanish went another way for the borrowing kind: biblioteca, from Greek, the same root as bibliography.

A librería is a shop. In parts of Latin America it also sells notebooks, pens and school supplies, and you'll see papelería for a stationery shop. A biblioteca is a library: public, at a university, or the books on your own shelves (mi biblioteca).

Related words: un libro (a book), un librero (a bookcase, in Mexico), and prestar (to lend): ¿Me prestas tu libro? To borrow from the library is sacar un libro de la biblioteca.

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Also worth knowing

Spanish	English
¿A qué hora cierra la biblioteca?	What time does the library close?
Compré el libro en una librería del centro.	I bought the book at a bookshop downtown.
¿Me prestas tu libro?	Can I borrow your book?

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Questions people ask

What does librería mean?

A bookshop: a place that sells books. In some countries it sells stationery too. It is not a library.

How do you say library in Spanish?

La biblioteca. Voy a la biblioteca a estudiar means I'm going to the library to study.

What is a librero?

In Mexico, a librero is a bookcase. In other countries the word can also mean a bookseller.