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San Francisco Public…
189 reviews
Neighborhood: Civic Center/Tenderloin
Category: Libraries
San Francisco Public Library - Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Branch
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1 Jose Sarria Court
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 355-5616
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 355-5616
7 reviews for San Francisco Public Library - Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Branch
Can someone explain the name of this branch?
I stopped in to use the internet here when I first moved to the city. Great atmosphere, nice staff, good library!
Recently re-opened after being closed for renovations, and it is a really nice, little library! Not really the place to go if you have a particular book in mind and just want to get it and get out (unless it's a fairly common, popular book). It's a small branch, so the selection is not that big, but it seems well-curated. It also offers a larger than average selection of particular genres, like graphic novels and LGBT books. It's a good place to come browse and maybe discover something new. It also provides a pretty pleasant atmosphere for sitting down with a book for an hour or so. Throw in a decent dvd collection, and it's a solid local branch. Excited this is so close to my house!
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I visit the library at least once a week. I don't have tv, cable, tivo and I am not a member of netflix. My library provides all my entertainment. This place reminds me of the old libraries I used to go to as a kid. Kind of quaint looking. The staff is all very friendly and helpful. The location can't be beat (though I wish there was no uphill walk on the way back home).
Bike Parking: designated bike rack out front on 16th St.
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first off, some comments on libraries in general: in our current age of information/entertainment/education/media on demand at our fingertips, the continued existence of libraries in our society makes me really happy. you have to leave your house to get what you're looking for. you may have to interact with an *actual person* to complete your transaction. you have access to rich archives of information and resources that you DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR*. they basically still believe in the honor system! and each library branch at least attempts to take a pulse on the interests and needs of their distinct community and then stock their shelves accordingly.
while many branches are renovating and updating, this one in particular, built in the late 50's/early 60's, feels like a step back in time to the 50's. it makes you momentarially marvel at the value of the real estate used here at the corner of 16th and market for this antiquated building with a PARKING LOT! a PARKING LOT, people! this could be one HUGE pottery barn!
so, i typically step out of the library with my stack of borrowed books, feeling very warm and fuzzy about the investment the city continues to make into the library system and feeling like a bit of a throw-back to a time before the internet. but that's just the END of my experience. getting to this point actually has a very high-tech angle to it. we're talking about the library website. i log in. i make requests. i transfer books from one branch to another for my own convenient pick-up. i keep a list of things i'd like to read. i get email reminders of when things are due. i renew my selections, promising to return them at a later date if i can just keep them now to finish them up. it's really quite a good system.
my only complaint, which is addressed to great extent by the online reservation system, is that the actual stock of books is surprisingly limited for a city the size of san francisco. new releases and popular books will have you waiting a month or more before they become available. walking into any given branch and expecting a selection of current titles is a losing proposition.
* i am aware that as a tax payer, i AM paying for use of the library system. but it's a service that i pay for that i actually ENJOY using, so i feel like it's almost a favor that the city is throwing in.
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I'm bookish and nerdy, so I use the library a lot. The staff at the Harvey Milk Branch are top notch - helpful, friendly, erudite - basically everything you look for in a librarian. My only complaint here would be that the books in the children's section are often misshelved, but this is really not the fault of the staff so much as the fault of parents who let their kids put the books back on the shelves when really they should be teaching them to use the reshelving carts.
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**It's in the Castro and it has parking** I like this library (well, I like all libraries really). It's a small one but good selection, especially for kids. The hours are random. And it's in the Castro and it has parking, did I mention that? It is often hard to find parking in the Castro and this is a good place to try in the evening, when they're closed of course...
My new library for my new neighborhood. i went on saturday and checked it out, while i checked out some books as well. it is once again, like the parkside branch, small, and there are not many books. The largest section is the children's section, so if you have a kid, go there. or if you are a kid. or just like to read picture books. because it's in the castro, there is a section especially for gay literature and another one for lesbian literature. together, this is as big as the i guess straight fiction section. there are too many romance novels though.. all together i already had a hard time finding some good books to read, so i feel like the selection is limited. i dont like non fiction or childrens so that takes out a significant part of the stock. BUT the woman at the desk TALKED to me! I hated that no one at the other one talked. How can you check out books in total silence? even when i say hi? she had to, because i was paying a $20 fine, but still... Anyways, i like my new library because its close to me. i can walk there in a few minutes. otherwise, i wish it had more, and better, books. but oh well.
