SFSU library delay creates headaches
By: Beth Winegarner
Examiner Staff Writer
February 9, 2009
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| Jesus Granados studies in Library Annex I at San Francisco State University on Thursday. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco State University students will have to live without a central library indefinitely, waiting days for books and hiking to remote corners of campus for study rooms and other services.
The university’s J. Paul Leonard Library was closed last fall for a planned $116 million renovation and seismic retrofit of the school’s primary library. Originally scheduled to reopen in late 2011, the project now remains in limbo until California legislators adopt a state budget and lift their hold on all state-funded construction, according to university spokeswoman Ellen Griffin.
In the meantime, students must request all their books — still housed in the library building — a day or more in advance. Computers, study rooms, copying services and magazines are now located in a variety of “annexes” scattered across the 134-acre campus.
“It’s hard not having one place to go; the main library was in a central location,” said Natalie Franklin, president of Associated Students. “A lot of students commute, so having to reserve books is a headache for people who are used to being able to grab them and go.”
The delays have also set back a number of Associated Students projects, including plans for a recreation and wellness center that would be located on the site of one of the buildings currently being used as a library annex, according to Franklin.
Once finished, the J. Paul Leonard Library will be 85,000-square-feet larger and feature an automated book-retrieval system that fetches volumes in 5 to 10 minutes. The update will allow more books to be housed in a smaller space, said chief librarian Deborah Masters.
Students who come to the library to study at night will also have more space and options. The library’s electrical and data wiring will be completely updated, allowing students to use video-conferencing systems and produce audio and video projects, Masters said.
The building’s fifth and sixth floors will house the Sutro Library, one of the largest collections of family histories in the Western United States.
“It’s going to be tremendous,” Masters said.
However, university administrators now have no idea when the project will resume, according to Griffin.
Students are coping with the chore of tracking down books, computers and study areas in different parts of the university, but the hassle may force them to go to nearby public libraries, such as the Merced Branch, because they’re more conveniently located, Franklin said.
J. Paul Leonard Library
Renovation cost: $116 million
Volumes: 250,000
Book-retrieval system: 1 million volume capacity with five to 10 minute delivery time
