This week more San Francisco Public Library branches and services will reopen for limited indoor and front door pick-up service starting today, June 21.
This include Excelsior, Ortega, Richmond and Visitacion Valley which will reopen for browsing; plus front door pick-up service at Bernal Heights, Golden Gate Valley, Ingleside, North Beach, Sunset and Western Addition. All the branches will reopen today except for Excelsior that will reopen June 22.
Mayor London Breed made the announcement via Twitter, she said,
Many library staff have been serving in Covid response rolls, and with those now winding down, we can reopen more services that we know people are eager to see available once again.
Library staff are returning to their pre-pandemic roles gradually,so staffing levels remain low to fully reopen all branches due to a large number of vacancies. The City has confirmed that currently, the Library’s workforce is down by nearly a quarter but that they will reopne more branches during the course of the summer.
City Librarian Michael Lambert said via statement,
We are doing the best with the personnel we have to fully reopen all of our neighborhood libraries as expeditiously as possible. In the meantime, we can’t wait to welcome our beloved patrons back through our doors for Browse and Bounce and provide access to collections at our SFPL To-Go locations.
Since the lockdown started in March 2020, many SFPL employees have been deployed as Disaster Service Workers supporting San Francisco COVID-19 response in various positions, many worked at food pantries, COVID-19 testing sites, Community Hubs for students, and Shelter-in-Place hotels.There were also 10 neighborhood branches that served as community learning hubs to support vulnerable youth and families with distance learning.
On May 3, patrons welcomed the reopening of SFPL Main Library which launched what is known as its “Browse and Bounce” program. This program is now available at the Chinatown/Him Mark Lai Branch Library and Mission Bay Branch Library.
The express in-person service welcomes Library cardholders back inside for 60-minute sessions to browse library books, music, movies, pick up holds and check out materials, ask reference and information questions from Library staff and schedule a 60-minute computer session. Library users can also access photocopiers, printers, fax and scanners.
As per info provided by the City here is a summary of the new branches reopening:
Browse and Bounce Locations
- Chinatown, 1135 Powell Street; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Main, 100 Larkin Street; Monday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm; Sunday, 12 pm–5:30 pm
- Mission Bay Branch, 960 4th Street; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
Starting today, June 21:
- Ortega Branch, 3223 Ortega Street; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Richmond/Sen. Milton Marks Jr. Branch, 351 9th Avenue; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Visitacion Valley Branch, 201 Leland Avenue; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
Starting Tuesday, June 22:
- Excelsior Branch, 4400 Mission Street; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
SFPL To-Go Locations
- Anza Branch, 550 37th Avenue; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Bayview Branch, 5075 3rd Street; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Eureka Valley Branch, 1 Jose Sarria Court; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Excelsior Branch, 4400 Mission Street; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Marina Branch, 1890 Chestnut Street; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Merced Branch, 155 Winston Drive; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Mission Bookmobile, Harrison and 20th streets; Tuesday & Thursday, 2 pm–6 pm
- OMI Bookmobile, 400 Sargent Street; Tuesday & Thursday, 2 pm–6 pm and 50 Broad Street; Wednesdays, 2 pm–6 pm
- Ortega Branch, 3223 Ortega Street; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Park Branch, 1833 Page Street; Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Portola Branch, 380 Bacon Street; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Potrero Branch, 1616 20th Street; Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Richmond Bookmobile, Palm Avenue at Geary Boulevard; Tuesday & Thursday, 2 pm–6 pm
- Treasure Island Bookmobile, Avenue H and 11th Street; Wednesdays, 2 pm–6 pm
- West Portal Branch, 190 Lenox Way; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5:30 pm
Starting today, June 21:
- Bernal Heights, 500 Cortland Avenue; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Golden Gate Valley, 1801 Green Street; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Ingleside Branch, 1298 Ocean Avenue; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- North Beach, 850 Columbus Avenue; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Sunset, 1305 18th Avenue; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
- Western Addition, 1550 Scott Street; Monday–Friday, 10 am–5:30 pm
Please note that library users do still need to wear a mask or face covering. For hours and more information please visit http://sfpl.org/reopening.
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