San Francisco Public Library Review

A clean , friendly atmosphere with knowledgeable, helpful staff..

The SF library is stunning and a great source of academic resources. The biggest problem is that the public bathrooms on the first floor are used as a washroom for the city's homeless population. While I understand that libraries are public spaces open to the community, their services should be used as designed. The library administration and the city needs to create a solution to help mitigate this problem. Library members should feel comfortable going to bathroom while visiting the library. My recommendation is that the library ought to institute a card swipe system, where library card holding members can access the facilities. This might reduce the number of Individuals using the bathroom to wash their clothes and themselves during regular business hours. The library ought to also partner with city resources to direct those individuals to the city allocated resources for those particular services.

If the neighborhood wasn't as bad, this would be a great central library. But trying to read at a table with an unstable person trying to take a babywipe shower and intravenous drug use on the steps makes it inaccessible for people concerned about safety -- or the general welfare of our city overall.

In the digital world that we live in we can sometimes forget our public libraries, but its collection is vast and some ebooks/audiobooks you can borrow without going to the library. Now that is something you can find worthwhile!

So big, so nice and always getting the latest of trends. With an internal bookstore as well :D

SFPL provides an invaluable service to SF and surrounding communities. Their inclusionary stance and open doors have changed countless lives, mine included. Thank you SFPL for all that you do!

The main branch of the SFPL is a great place to spend your time. You can find a quite corner to read or get work done while most all areas are clean and well-lit. There is a surprising amount of cool events (movies, lecture, etc.) that is offered via the SFPL programming. Also, there's usually no line to check-out.

I love the main branch of the San Francisco public library. I love the fact that it is accessible to everyone, that the staff are helpful, that the books shelves are full....

There is a sign in the library in Dublin, Ireland where I frequently live which says "It is easier to get along with no money in a time of libraries, than to get along without libraries in a time of money."

Libraries are a gift to everyone, and the main branch in San Francisco is the embodiment of that.

The library offers big collections of books/audiobooks which is great. Don t make the homeless problem a big issue for you to access this place as you can choose/place your desired books to collect later. And their e-book library is great with a lot of new published ones.

You can easily get the access to the library by bringing your ID and a bill showing that you are a resident and boom - a library card in 5 minutes.

I nice library. Plenty of books and resources. A lot of homeless people walking inside and outside of the library. And the staff are hit or miss if you will get a nice one. Guards are not friendly. Go for the books.

While staffers and the city that manages it may not bend over backwards for you, they are helpful and give their all to help anyone who needs help. But will not be anyone's doormat, armed city police on library security duty - are the library's security.
The library itself is clean, despite the traffic demands of users. Also the median temperature is a tad too warm, that it encourages napping than studying most of the time. Compared to other libraries I have been in. Perhaps the environmental controls are set up for a warm dry environment to mediate the high outside humidity, so the tomes of knowledge won't be colonies of mold on the shelves.
I am surprised that the pure water coming out of the dehumidifiers aren't being used for drinking.
Despite the PR about the city's water, there are still a lot of old pipes that need to be replaced or relined. It is common to taste heavy chlorine in some areas of the city, and if you put tap water into a clear glass - then hold it up to the light. If you see all manner of rubbish floating in the water, there is still a problem with your water.
Maybe it is the volume of users using the library as a resource so heavily, that the filters for the water needs to be changed out more often.

The desk/table power outlets for plugging in appliances and devices, are pretty worn - contact is sketchy for many of these outlets. An electrician could easily adjust them, rather than replace them, so that when the plug contacts eventually disintegrate from heavy use, the next service will be to replace them with new outlets.

On the occasional, arbitrary change of opening times, I suspect is due to the operating budget going into the red, than hovering in the grey.
Perhaps it would not be outrageous to start installing coin meters on all the free electricity outlets, and bolt down all public access PC's power cords to discourage tampering. Because recharging of users devices must be a heavy burden on the library's budget.
I could easily build a kinetic sculpture for the city, that doubles as a wind energy turbine to generate electricity to off-set some of the power demands on the city. Since it is often windy in the Civic Center.
It would be running, even though the offices are closed.
My alternative wind technology, would be more favorable than conventional turbines, because it is not visually intrusive, and safe for our feathered residents as well.
But the city probably already has to much on its plate as it is, to be exploring new ways to save money or generate revenue for services sustainability

It's quiet place vs outside world just outside the library.

The main branch. Beautiful architecture, clean environment, and all the books you can stand. Even though tons of homeless use the bathrooms here to clean up and maintain, they act civil and respect the establishment. At least most of them do. Just like some everyday citizens (people with a place to live) act like complete buffoons. The place is airy, quiet, and comfortable. The chairs aren't but the environment is.

Good library for reading after seeing the Lombard street.

It is a nice building with good volume of collection. But it is occupied by homeless and mental from inside to outside. The only restroom on the first floor becomes the heaven of drug user, homeless and mental people. Security adds extra tension. It's not a peaceful, quiet library.

very helpful staff. Great lighting and design. Love the LGBT session and the expo at the basement.

Plenty of space to get work dome and be productive. Nice study rooms and several outlets around study tables.

This is a sanctuary library where you can shoot up while reading Where the Wild things are and take a Turd World PooP anywhere your imagination can take you

A clean , friendly atmosphere with knowledgeable, helpful staff.. !!

I love the library. Yes, there is a very large homeless population. My only other complaint is the Disability Exhibit is on the 6th floor and no way for the people in wheelchairs, walkers, etc. to evacuate if there's a fire or other emergency.
I use the LGBT corner on the 3rd floor. Why is the collection here reference only? I don't have the needed time to research some things and have to make several trips to find what I need.
The little cafe down stairs is really delightful and has a large range of coffees, teas, cocoa, sandwiches, snacks, etc. all reasonable priced. The money helps our library.
If you don't have a library card let me ask this: WHY NOT! It's easy to get and there are tons of cards to choose from. Get to your local library and discover the world.

Anyways, the Main Library has a Peet's Coffee in the ground level and I prefer Starbucks better. Not the one across the street but this Peet's Coffee certainly has nice people working there.

I love all the city has to offer. Especially, the Main Library.

Beautiful place. I only had an hour to look around but will definitely have to dedicate at least half a day for myself to explore it.

Awesome library. Creepy neighborhood cold use a bit better security though.

Lovely place, well secured, good place to meet many intelegent people. Also, this facility could be used for public speakers who would deliver an essential information about how to survive in this ever changing housing market.

The Main is a great physical resource for the community. Some staff I have seen for many years. All do their best to help one use the facility in the aspect one requires. As a public space it represents the diversity of our city with the right and freedom to access and gain information.

Nice building, great resource, very easy for a new resident to sign up and get a library card.

The building and the interior are beautiful and a very nice library

Mostly amazing stuffs except page desks
Very welcoming at the entrance inside the building.
Very disciplined, and quiet environment.
Restrooms are unacceptable in terms of cleanliness, so many homeless people all the time makes chaos and spreads unbearable odour.

The facility and staff are nice but I feel danger everywhere even if there are guards!! Watchout for the mens bathroom, people bringing dogs, potentially dangerous people who will stickup their middle finger for sitting in front of them. Oh and the study room is not under controle for quietness.

Old computers to use internet. It sure needs to be modernized.

I actually really like this library. It's so nice! Only downside is lots of homeless people.

Great group studying/discussion on the 2nd floor corridor. Free wifi throughout the library. But if you are camera shy, then head for the reading rooms on the third floor; plenty of tourists stop by the central corridor to sit and pose as if studying/reading or just snap lots of photos. Sometimes with flash since no guards/staff are around this area.

Beautiful library. A really magnificent collection.

I don t low rate unless, I HAVE to. My 1sf experience using the SF Public Library was the worse, I had to use the computer for filling urgent applications but couldn t find any vacant PC almost for 45 mins!

There were folks not wanting to leave the PCs, they were using the PCs for things like playing songs, games ETC. No rules regulations set forth. I went there hoping that it would be a very modern library with modern equipment unfortunately the printing, scanning and coping tech will take you 10-15 minutes for one page.

Suggestion to the head of the library: People come there from miles away to find an peaceful environment to study, read etc so there should be some sort of strict guarding to Patrol around and not allow folks use the library for entertainment purposes! Also would greatly appreciate if printing, scanning, copying, faxing ETC equipment can be modernized a bit because SF is known as a city of Technology!!!

Wonderful experience. Extremely nice staff. And the services from the library are very good. Beautiful building is a plus also

Not the cleanest library but there are a lot of study spaces.

Whoever says that SF is a world class city certainly isn't doing so based on its public libraries. I've lived in SF going on 21 years now. I've always liked libraries. Unfortunately, SF has an extremely poor public library system. Far and away the worst aspect of the libraries is that 1/2 - 3/4 of its employees are rude by default. The thing is I'm usually trying to be nice from the get go. I'm not a social butterfly but I at least try to say hello and have a good day. But when staff don't even look at you or they're playing with their cell phone at the same time asking what you want, it's a bit hard not to at least start wondering who this person hates more: me or themselves.

That might be a bit harsh and there really are nice staff even at the main library. And I know they have to deal with all sorts of people. But it is kind of their job. It's probably a thankless job but guess what - most jobs are thankless.

There are always 2-4 police officers outside in the front of the library smoking cigarettes. I've never seen so many police officers chain smoke for so long. I'm not being facetious when I say that I'm sure it's at least a little bit stressful. But wow a lot of smoke breaks.

The homeless at the library isn't that big a problem for me. Yes, sometimes there are fairly bad stenches in the library and yes, a lot of homeless come to the library to sleep and take up desk space. Occasionally, a fight or someone is in crisis and needs to be escorted out of the building. It's just not a deal breaker for me.

I just got back from Austin and their main/central library is outstanding. Theirs is about 2 years old so it's not a completely apples to apples comparison. But wow is it beautiful, quite, and clean not to mention not pathologically rude.

The above mentioned problems are not going away anytime soon I suspect. SF politically has never really seemed to be very well managed so from a public services standpoint I doubt the building is going to change nor will staff issues change. If I had to guess there's probably a Public Library commission with appointed members. I should probably look it up. Maybe it's a commissioner/director who's been in this position for 20 years like the recently charged Public Works Director. ;-)

Well-organized, clean, and comfortable spaces to read or study.

Library? Check
Books? Check
Clean? Check
Fleshed out catalog? Check
Video? Check
Wifi? Check

My favorite library? Check.

Sf publib is my favorite library for a reason. It's awesome and I recommend it to everyone.

Great place to hit someone over head with hardback.

I love the material here. But the smell and the safety is not that good. My water bottle, even a cheap water bottle, got stolen in men's restroom!

Great library that is being ruined by the homeless. The bathrooms are disgusting, and if you try and actually use the library for research or work, you are surrounded by smelly uncouth bums who make spending any time it what is otherwise a great library a regrettable experience.

Despite a constant homeless presence outside and around the fringes, the building is modern, spacious and well-managed. Finding a table with a nice window view isn't always easy, however. A very nice public library, in a not so nice part of town.

Library is clean and large and alot of info great place for research

i am always at the library looking up thing to read as wll as thing for me to research

The best library I've been to. I just moved into town and got a card that day and was checking out books. Im a computer science major and they had most of the coding/programming books I needed. 6 floors or more of every book you could need for school or just to read. They have tons of Open spaces and desks with computers to use and search the library easy and go online and also to work on projects and they have outlets to charge everything!!!

The security is the problem as usual, why do they get to decide who goes in the library if they still let fights break out in the bathroom?

UPDATE: I failed to admit that libraries are more than just book repositories. Indeed, kids, families, gays, whites, homeless, scholars and the occasional City Supervisor all are welcomed, plus everybody else. A library can make an intellectual stop and ponder. In this Main Library all are welcomed, just like San Francisco. Something I failed to acknowledge and regret for not 6 is a dissapointment for a world-class city, but it is practical for its uses. Free internet access. All other services ie...printing, faxing are a nominal price. The staff is friendly and helpful. The homeless tend to hang out here a lot especially when the weather is bad. One of the structures that make up the excellent government plaza.

Today: my first preconceived notion on what a world-class public library focused on a narrow self-centered thought, what can it do for me. A library is so much more than that particular book, article of public notice or a friendly person doing your research. The San Francisco Main Public Library illuminates those tangibles of dreams being found, understanding what once been indescribable and most important this library's modesty shows just how grand it truly is.

An open and welcoming place for all who want to study or just stay. It's easy to sign up if you like to borrow books, otherwise logging in and using the internet is free. This library is the head of many other in San Francisco. If you come early you will find a nice chair with a cool view in the classroom.

Very disappointed & disgusted to hear the SFPL is currently hosting an "art exhibit" that uncritically glorifies the physical abuse of women, displaying painted baseball bats & axes (as tools of aggression against women who disagree with gender-ideology) and a "bloody" t-shirt promoting punching women. It's deeply misogynistic & completely unacceptable.

What makes this library so awesome, besides the beautiful building itself, is the incredible staff. They are friendly, helpful, and generous with their time and resources.

Other posters have noted that a large proportion of the clientele are homeless, which is somewhat understandable in a city with so few other resources for them to go to during the day and a constant cold 15-mile-an-hour wind on the street. This is where the staff really shines. They treat even these unfortunates with professionalism and dignity, and have even arranged with other city departments to bring social workers into the library to help the marginalized connect with vital services like shelter beds, food, health care, and personal hygiene.

The library has nice little study desks with comfy solid wooden chairs, but the real winner is that, if you get there early or at slow times, you can score one that is UPHOLSTERED! Each floor has special subject study rooms on different subjects, which provide a little more table space if you are working on a project that requires that you be able to spread out your stuff a little bit.

The atrium was controversial when the library first opened-- all that wasted space!-- but I like that the library has that airy feel and natural light.

There's a cafe on the basement level that serves quality coffee, so you don't even need to leave the building when you need a study break.

Negatives:

* The bathrooms are a no-go zone. The stench is unbelievable, leave it at that. It's not the staff's fault; I see them in there cleaning all the time. It just gets too much traffic.

* WiFi access is spotty, which is unacceptable in the nominal tech capital, and access to the internet such a must have for research.

To those who whine about the homeless: The city has proposed to convert a building at 440 Turk, about 3 blocks away, into a 24-hour service center for the homeless. Contact your representatives in city government and support this proposal. Put your money where your mouth is, or, better yet, put a couple of dollars in a homeless person's hand. WWJD?

Amazing place to be. The world of knowledge is in here

Best library I've been too. Bathrooms need a lot of attention though

I'm glad San Francisco finally has a beautiful library. It is great but if you are there to work bring your headphones, it gets really noisy even on the upper floors. hopefully the city will be able to maintain this library and keep it beautiful for years to come.

My kids loved the SF library. They had a fun children s section with lots of selection. JetBlue has their Soar with Reading vending machine outside the children s section right now. You can pick up a free book out of the vending machine.

Library smells like mold and urine! ( Americas largest homeless center +mental Institute )

Security guards and the madam whom operates the cafe are courteous and professional. Ground level front desk clerks are pretentious and consistently treat 'patrons' as second class carriers of contagions/contamination. One must know how to compassionately handle diverse populations, a life skill, but unfortunately undervalued

This library is a sanctuary for my body mind and soul. I absolutely love this place

San Francisco Public Library has a wealth of information and books about everything that one would desire to read, research, browse, take a class on and so much more. Even a free Movie screening. And much much more.

There is no library like this place. The whole place inside and out! I have

Coming from New York... I was very impressed with the SF Public Library. The building seems all brand-new, with helpful and interested staff. Sure, there's an occasional homeless person... but the amenities this library has (on top of having all the books, e-books, newspapers, etc. that a library should have) makes up for any chance encounter that might occur. Library goers can even reserve a private study room should they need to.

Dear San Francisco, there seem to be a couple of big problems here that no one wants to talk about?!?! What a gorgeous building, I'm sorry you don't have sufficient services to deal with the homeless/mental health/D&A problems that have made places in this amazing city largely unaccessible to the rest of the community. Sad situation for everyone, where is all that silicone valley tax going?

This is a wonderful library with an incredibly diverse population. It is sad that so many people complain about the homeless in the area. Most of the posts were probably done by the upper class who helped create the problem. Instead of complaining do something about it. There would be few left on the street if we had proper permanent housing. This is the people s library. All San Franciscans are people.

They finally cleaned up the homeless problem after 10 years.

Nice Place Place! But Never a Current Daily Paper Ever..

Unique library it isn't like a typical boring looking library. Nicely set up and gives off positive vibes.

I was here with a meetup group. A whole lot of homeless people were using the restrooms to clean themselves.

If, like me, you are into your grand buildings this is a place to see. Being free to enter is another bonus. We missed the big room in the picture, pretty bummed about that it looks amazing but it was such a maze!

San Francisco Public Library main has literally changed my life. My theory that I would lose weight if I listened to 10 Nutrition audiobooks panned out, oops, and as a side effect my brain appears to be sharper, and my mental health is off the charts ( in a good way).
I am also enjoying hoopla and kanopy, the Great Courses are amazing!! Thank you San Francisco Public Library!!

Amazing architecture. Wasn't able to spend much time there since it was a short work trip, but seems like it has a lot to offer the community. Store was excellent, got a cool canvas bag.

It is very difficult to study and do research at the library because many of the homeless people who occupy the area are aggressive and love to disturb others. The bathroom is often crowded with homeless people using it to bath, dress or sleep. I have been hit by a violent person throwing things in the ladies bathroom. If you live near another library, please stay away from this one.

There are so many amazing resources at and through the SFPL (more than just books!). Staff are usually friendly and helpful for book suggestions. All of the libraries are well maintained.

For the main library, being in the middle of the Civic center where there is rampant homelessness and drug use, it is going to seep into this beautiful public space. IMO, the comments about that might be helpful for visitors, but it shouldn't impact the review of the library. It's an issue of the city and regardless of it, I still think the library is very well maintained. If there were a lot of bathrooms, it would be incredibly difficult to keep those clean and drug free. Even with what you see in the lobby and out the doors, the children's area is fantastic and events there are great as well.

Love how many little nooks there are here for settling in with a book.

Plenty of sunlight from the atrium and from the many windows. And while there is always a significant homeless population, I'm not really going to ding the library for making itself available to people who are in there to get on the Internet or to borrow some books.

Conveniently by Little Saigon, so snag some food before or after bookworming.

Not quiet enough for research, which basically defeats the purpose of this place as a library with reading areas. Too many people just seeking shelter with free Internet, chatting, watching videos on their smartphones leaking sounds, taking and making phone calls everywhere, eating food when it is supposed to be prohibited... or just there to nap or even exercise. These are not people who are there for books or for other educational or research resources.

The main library building is not in a very nice area to begin with, and the City needs to rethink what this place really is for. I would not mind the library being used by homeless people, drug users, or whoever so long as they are there for the library and use it as such, but as a public facility it needs to cater to specific needs of residents, and need to discourage the behaviors that make the facility to be used in undesirable ways.

The best library I've ever been in. The collection of books is endless and there's so many nice spots in here to just chill out and read a book. I like how there's lights at the tables and even a spot to plug in your electronics. The restroom is kind of sketchy though since there's a pretty high concentration of homeless people around the area so be careful!

Should really update their listing to reflect the fact that they are CLOSED.

I don t know why public services in SF are so poorly managed.

My favorite library in all of the Bay Area. Clean, plentiful, and well designed

What's perfect is the location. As a tourist you get to not only see the library in area but there's also Bryant Park, Rockefeller center, St. Patrick Cathedral, Grand Central Station and a couple blocks up Times Sq.

An impressive building with six floors and a collection of about 3.5 million books. The library has a lot of computers and spaces for reading. The library offers a Library offers a "homeless and poverty outreach library team".

SF Library. It's full of homeless and mentally ill.