Library Gets $5.9 Million to Complete Renovation

photo: Friends of the SF Public Library

State Librarian Susan Hildreth (center) stands with supporters of a statewide
bond measure passed by California voters to rebuild state libraries.

By Carol Dimmick

Library supporters were elated to learn that millions of dollars in state grants awarded to San Francisco to renovate libraries would be awarded for the renovation of the Richmond Branch Library and the building of a new library in the Ingleside District.

"The Richmond Branch Library was the highest priority of the five projects submitted. I am extraordinarily pleased that this project received an outstanding rating and was funded by the state," said Paul Underwood, acting-city librarian.

The $5.9 million grant to renovate the Richmond library and a $3.6 million grant to build a new library in the Ingleside are two of eight statewide projects funded with a chunk of the $77 million awarded. The state Office of Library Construction had doled out the bulk of its $350 million in two previous cycles. This was the first time a San Francisco project received a state grant since voters passed the statewide Library Bond Act in 2000.

The Richmond grant will be supplemented with $3.2 million in local bond money to transform the ailing Andrew Carnegie-funded library. The 1914 building is scheduled for a complete refurbishing and a new 4,000-square-foot addition. Work is expected to start in the summer and the library is scheduled to reopen in early 2008.

The grants are a victory for a library staff that struggled to come up with a winning application.

After the Richmond project was rejected during the last award cycle, the staff worked hard to beef-up the application by including more details about its book collection and by adding more than 100 pages of new information about the library's technology plan.

Additionally, a strong contingent of local library users traveled to the state capitol to testify on behalf of the Richmond proposal in late November.

Camille She, a Richmond resident of Chinese heritage, told panel members that the library's extensive Chinese language book collection is one way that her mother helps her daughter to connect with the family's cultural roots.

"My mother loves to read, 'Spot Where Are You?' to my daughter in Chinese," She said.

New $600 Million Bond for Libraries Goes to California Voters in 2006

In 2006, statewide voters will get a chance to approve an additional $600 million for library construction. State officials say that as much as $300 million could be awarded to projects already in the pipeline, including three from San Francisco.

During the final award cycle, San Francisco had submitted applications which were rejected: the Ortega Portola and Visitacion Valley branch Libraries. Library officials say these applications would be given priority consideration for state funding if the 2006 bond measure is approved.