News Release

Main Library patrons, staff and city officials will celebrate the completion of the Main’s newly renovated First Floor at its unveiling at 10 a.m. on Jan. 16, 2008. The Main Library is located at 100 Larkin St.

The First Floor renovation project has resulted in an additional 6,000 square feet of publicly-accessible space—an area that was previously used for staff functions. It has also tripled the amount of browseable shelf space that formerly housed the fiction collection.

The renovation—the first since the Main Library building opened in 1996—increases the amount of space for the fiction collection and includes a handsome new central service point for checking out and returning library materials, obtaining library cards and paying fines. Two self-return machines are in operation, connected to a new automated sorting unit that will enable staff to return materials to the shelves faster. Dedicated computer stations now allow patrons to fill out library card applications and pay fines and fees online. New self-checkout equipment has been installed. The men’s and women’s restrooms have been renovated and enhancements have been made to the building’s plumbing, heating, ventilation, electrical and mechanical systems.

The fresh-faced First Floor now includes the entire fiction collection, including new fiction, general fiction, mysteries, graphic novels, science fiction, westerns and large print books; a selection of new, popular nonfiction; an expanded Audiovisual Center that will house the majority of the adult and teen non-print materials; a rebuilt Information desk in a more visible, centrally-located space in the atrium; and new floor coverings, lighting and carrels for library catalogs and Internet stations.

More than 2,500 square feet of compact book storage space was also added to the First Floor to enhance the Library’s ability to house and make available the growing collection.

The renovation, completed in 12 months, is the result of recommendations from the 2000 Main Library Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) report, the Library’s management team, the City’s Bureau of Architecture and the Main’s First Floor library staff. The project cost of approximately $6.1 million was funded substantially by the Library Preservation Fund (1994’s Proposition E), with additional support from generous donations by the Harvey V. Berneking Living Trust and the Phyllis C. Wattis Fund of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

For more information, please call (415) 557-4277.