South San Francisco Public Library
The South San Francisco Public Library is located in South San Francisco, California. It is an independent city library and part of the Peninsula Library System,[1] a consortium of city, county, and community college libraries in San Mateo County. The library holds approximately 166,000 volumes and has 29,000 borrowers. In the fiscal year 2007-2008, the library circulated 687,000 items. The library offers a number of services to the public including homebound delivery, numerous children’s programs, a literacy program, a community learning center, 77 public computers, and free Wi-Fi access.
History
In 1914, local teacher Rue Clifford rode through town on horseback collecting petition signatures in support of creating a local public library. In 1916, Andrew Carnegie provided funding and building plans for construction of the Grand Avenue library. In 1966, the new city library on West Orange Avenue opened to the public. The Grand Avenue library became the city’s branch library. In 1998, the Community Learning Center, a new service of the library and collaborating agencies serving youth and adults, opened.
Locations
The library has three locations:
| Main Library | 840 West Orange Avenue |
| Grand Avenue Branch | 306 Walnut Avenue |
| Community Learning Center | 520 Tamarack Lane |
Collections
The library offers current, high-demand, and high-interest materials for all ages in a variety of formats. The Grand Avenue branch has a sizable Spanish-language collection. The Main library features the Figoni Opera Collection, the largest collection of opera CDs and DVDs in Northern California.
These collections are complemented by a wide variety of electronic resources[2] including the Gale Group databases,[3] Online, and e-book services.[4] The library also offers homework help[5] for students in grades 4-12. In addition, the library provides an online reference service 24 hours a day through the AskNow service.[6]
Children and Teen Services
The Children's[7] and Teen[8] Services department provides collections, programs, and services for children from babies to young adult. It offers story times[9] for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, families, and story times in Spanish. Seasonal and afterschool programming is offered throughout the school year. The department also has extensive summer programs, including the Summer Reading Club, Teen Reading Club, and a program that matches middle and high school students with elementary school students who need help practicing reading.[10] The After School and Summer Volunteer programs allow teens to fulfill community service requirements for their schools or service clubs. The department provides homework help[11] for students from 4th grade through college introduction through Tutor.com. It also offers Tumblebooks,[12] an online collection of animated, talking children's picture books as well as puzzles and other fun and educational activities.
Project Read
Project Read, the library’s literacy program, is a free service for English-speaking adults who want to improve their reading and writing ability.[13] Project Read offers a wide variety of programs including Families for Literacy story times for learners and their children; a Computer Learning Lab where learners can use programs to help with reading, spelling, and phonics, as well as learning the basics of computers, typing, and the internet; and Learning Wheels, a mobile preschool classroom.
Community Learning Center
The Community Learning Center serves to meet the educational needs of South San Francisco’s multicultural residents.[14] Its programs include English Language Classes, Computer Instruction, Homework Assistance, Activities for Children, Native Language Literacy Classes (Spanish), Kindergarten Preparation, Job Training, Parent Education, and Civic Engagement.
History room
The South San Francisco History Room[15] is devoted to the historical development and current events of South San Francisco. The History Room was established in 1967 and is located in the basement of the Grand Ave. Library. The collection contains approximately 2000 photographs and slides from the 1850s to the present. The collection also contains local school photographs and yearbooks from 1917 to present. There are also general genealogical reference materials, city directories, an historic building survey (1986), Sanborn Maps (1910 and 1929), South San Francisco zoning and area maps (1840s to present), and Oral History tapes.