SFPL Looking to Improve New Main

Staff -- Library Journal, 1/8/2001

In response to a 1999 report that suggested ways to improve the flawed new Main Library, San Francisco Public Library administrators have requested $5.3 million for the first phase of repairs. The plan would improve the library's first floor, where the busy "First Stop" for new materials would be expanded, and desks for checking out and returning materials would be combined. Also, money would be allocated to improve signage, rest rooms, and access to the second floor. However, the Library Commission, which would have to first approve the plan before sending it to the Board of Supervisors and the mayor, said the plan was vague, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and asked Acting City Librarian Susan Hildreth to return with some more realistic cost estimates. The second phase of the renovation plan would cost at least $10 million more.