Cost of Correcting SFPL Deficiencies
Put at $28 Million
A consultant’s report on the deficiencies of San Francisco’s three-year-old main library estimates that it will cost more than $28 million to make the facility user-friendly.
The January 5 San Francisco Chronicle reported that a summary of the study called the building “a significant piece of civic architecture,” but said it has insufficient space to house its collection, wastes space, and has a confusing layout and inadequate signage. The report recommends that the upper floors, now accessible mainly by library workers, be redesigned to allow patron access, at a cost of about $6.5 million. It also calls for a $9-million bridge between the top of the grand staircase and the rest of the second floor and for the conversion of the nearby underground Brooks Hall into an archival storage area, which would cost more than $10 million.
Library spokeswoman Marcia Schneider told American Libraries that the library commission would meet next month to discuss implementation. Some $3 million is currently available for work on the library, said Schneider, but the major improvements will require additional funding sources.
Posted January 10, 2000.
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