News Release

The Richmond/Senator Milton Marks Branch Library, located at 351 Ninth Ave., will close to undergo a major renovation on March 18. The branch will host a celebratory closing party at 1 p.m. that day. Fun, food and entertainment will be provided.

Construction on the library will add 4,000 square feet to the building and include seismic strengthening, accessibility improvements, and energy-efficiency and technology upgrades. The branch’s expansion will enhance services, including a 35 percent increase in the collection size with more teen, audiovisual and Chinese and Russian materials. Other features include: two new study rooms; a spacious 10th Avenue lobby; additional public restrooms; and a designated teen area. The branch will have the largest program room of all the branches, creating a new neighborhood venue for events similar to those previously held only at the Main Library. The historic integrity of this 1914 Carnegie landmark will be maintained as the building is restored to its original grandeur.

The project will cost about $13.7 million and is scheduled for completion in early 2009. The Richmond Branch was one of two San Francisco branches to receive highly competitive Prop. 14 state funding, totaling $5.9 million, for construction and furniture. The project is being designed by the San Francisco Bureau of Architecture’s Library Design Studio and is managed by the Department of Public Works.

The Richmond renovation is part of a major capital improvement project—the largest in San Francisco Public Library history—backed by voters who passed a $105.9 million bond measure in November 2000. Currently, there are five other branch libraries under construction—Sunset, Marina, Glen Park, Noe Valley and Western Addition. The Branch Library Improvement Program includes plans to renovate 19 branches and replace four leased facilities with City-owned branches. So far, the renovated Excelsior and West Portal branches have reopened, with Sunset opening on March 31. The construction of the brand-new Mission Bay Branch, opened on July 8, 2006, was also part of this building campaign.

During Richmond’s renovation, library services will be provided by increasing hours at the nearby Anza and Presidio branch libraries; holding children’s programs at the Richmond Police Station (located at 461 Sixth Ave.); and offering Bookmobile service at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Geary Boulevard. Also, Richmond’s Russian and Chinese collections will be temporarily relocated to the International Languages Collection in the lower level of the Presidio Branch, located at 3150 Sacramento St. (near Baker).

Please call (415) 355-5600 for information on temporary library services during the Richmond Branch’s closure; (415) 557-4353 for the Bookmobile schedule; or visit the Library’s web site at www.sfpl.org.

We voted to renovate and build new branch libraries across the City.
It's happening!