SF Bay Area Libraries (Los Angeles, San Jose: appointed, movies, universities)

[Danoliafoya]

In your opinion, what libraries do you think are best in the SF Bay Area that fulfill the following criteria?

1. A goodly number of actual book titles available on the shelf -- especially in the classics

2. User-friendly computer workstations: Terminals that are usually available without a long wait and the computers function properly and speedily

3. A helpful and English-speaking library staff


Thanks,

Danoliafoya

[gizmo980]

What part of the Bay Area specifically? I happen to be a librarian, and have worked at a number of local libraries... so I can definitely recommend a few! Without knowing where you're located, here are a few good ones: San Mateo Public (main), Berkeley Public, San Francisco main (and a few select branches), Saratoga Public, Mountain View and Sunnyvale.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Danoliafoya

In your opinion, what libraries do you think are best in the SF Bay Area that fulfill the following criteria?

1. A goodly number of actual book titles available on the shelf -- especially in the classics

2. User-friendly computer workstations: Terminals that are usually available without a long wait and the computers function properly and speedily

3. A helpful and English-speaking library staff


Thanks,

Danoliafoya

I like the Alameda Library, but as far as the classics go, there's two things you need to keep in mind. Space and readership. There is absolutely no reason to keep a book on the shelf -- even a classic, if it isn't checked out.

Now -- I'm going back quite a few years and Gizmo will have to back me up or correct me -- but libraries get funded on books checked out. So they are weeding out books that don't get checked out and STORING them because of space limitations.

That means while they aren't immediately available, they are still available -- if you use the catalog that's on the internet and ORDER it. They will fetch it from the storage and hold it for you to pick up.

This does take the fun out of browsing and finding a treasure by accident. Back when I was in college -- in the late Pliestocene era -- I read this great book by Thomas Hoving -- "King of the Confessors" about his aquiring the Bury St Edmonds Cross. It was 1981 -- and this read like the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In this book Hoving finds a small book written about the time the cross was created and he used it to help him authenticate the cross. The book was ""Chronicles of Jocelyn of Brakelond".

I was wandering through the history stacks at Penn States Patee library which is where I loved to hide after searching for some dry advertising garbage (Hmmm -- might have been a bad major for me!) and guess what I found?

Yep -- the Chronicles.... and it hadn't been checked out since 1929.....

It was a hard read -- it was a translation from a book written in the early 1200's... but I read it.

And I don't think there's a snowball's chance that sort of happy accident of finding a little treasure will ever happen again.

Sort of sad really.... but I do understand why libraries weed the stuff out...

[Bunjee]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

Now -- I'm going back quite a few years and Gizmo will have to back me up or correct me -- but libraries get funded on books checked out. So they are weeding out books that don't get checked out and STORING them because of space limitations.

I haven't been back in years because I was so disappointed, but I hated the SF Main. My complaint was a common one: They devoted so much to the conceptual architecture with all the bridges and zones that they forgot about the actual books, which is their whole reason for existence. And--this was when the new library was very young--there was plenty of space on the shelves. It was dumbfoundingly understocked, like it was some exurban branch with limited needs. This was the San Francisco Main library? I'd look forward to reports of improvement since the early '00s. Are there any?

[Stacy From Cali]

Chronicles of Jocelyn of Brakelond...I love that book!! Abbot Samson rocks.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled thread.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Stacy From Cali

Chronicles of Jocelyn of Brakelond...I love that book!! Abbot Samson rocks.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled thread.

Sis you read the Hoving book? I haven't in a long while -- I might have to break that one out again..

[Stacy From Cali]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

Sis you read the Hoving book? I haven't in a long while -- I might have to break that one out again..

I've never read the Hoving book, I'm just a geek medievalist. But now I have something cool I can track down. Thanks!

Also, to the OP some universities allow you to get a "community card" with limited borrowing privileges. The libraries at Stanford and Berkeley are da bomb!

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by Stacy From Cali

I've never read the Hoving book, I'm just a geek medievalist. But now I have something cool I can track down. Thanks!

Also, to the OP some universities allow you to get a "community card" with limited borrowing privileges. The libraries at Stanford and Berkeley are da bomb!

Many public and university libraries are also members of a network called "Link+". If your library is a member, then you can check out books from any of the other member libraries. You simply request them online and they are delivered to the library of your choice, and you return them there as well. There is no charge for this excellent service. There are a number of university libraries in this network (unfortunately not Stanford or Berkeley). I've managed to check out all sorts of obscure materials this way.

Here is a list of the member libraries:
Link+ Catalog

Another nice service is that the main San Jose library is integrated with the San Jose State University library: they are in the same physical building, and anyone with a San Jose public library card is also entitled to check out university library material.

Finally, it bears mentioning that unlike many states, in California you don't have to live within the city boundaries of a given library in order to qualify for a library card there. Anyone California resident is entitled to a library card at any public library in California. Over the years as I've moved around the state, I have collected library cards from Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Mountain View, and probably a few others I am forgetting. As far as I know, they're all still active.

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by Danoliafoya

In your opinion, what libraries do you think are best in the SF Bay Area that fulfill the following criteria?


3. A helpful and English-speaking library staff

I would assume that all libraries in the USA have English-speaking library staff.

[Nomadic9460678748]

When I lived in the Bay Area I took out cards from the San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland public libraries and was constantly supplied with quality, free reading material. Not to mention CDs and movies. I completely agree that SF main's architectural aspirations marginalized the actual books, but even so I always found a great selection of classics, hard to find cultural/social criticism (some of my favorite), and of course, your run-of-the-mill bestseller fiction, if that's your bag. I probably frequented Berkeley main second to SF Main (I loved the Mission and Chinatown branches), and then spent some time at various Oakland branches. I lived in Oakland and really wanted to do my part to support the library system. I have fond memories of weekend trips to the main branch in Oakland after a jaunt at the Grand Lake farmer's market. I would take my new books and have a seat on Lake Merritt. Nothing says comfort like a good book, some bubble tea, and a hot plate of food from the farmer's market.

All in all, I think the library systems in the Bay Area were exceptional in their collection offerings. At least compared to what we make do with here in Texas.

Also, I'm envious of the poster who mentioned having access to the Stanford and Berkeley libraries!