This location draws on the history of two wonderful organizations, the first over a century old (the San Francisco Public Libary system) and the second much more recent (Little Free Library movement).
History of San Francisco Public Library (https://sfpl.org/about-us/history-san-francisco-public-library)
San Francisco Public Library connects our diverse communities to learning, opportunities and each other. The library system includes the architecturally significant Main Library in the city’s Civic Center, 27 neighborhood branches including 7 Carnegie libraries, and four bookmobiles. With a collection of more than 3.7 million items, and circulation exceeding 11 million each year, SFPL serves more than 6 million visitors annually.
The doors of San Francisco’s first public library swung open on June 7, 1879 in Pacific Hall, a rented space housing a collection of 6,000 books in a Bush Street office building in the Financial District. It was relocated to a wing of City Hall in 1888, a facility that was virtually leveled by the 1906 earthquake. A noble, granite structure housing 200,000 volumes opened as a monument to knowledge in the majestic new Civic Center on February 15, 1917. This library has since been repurposed as the Asian Art Museum when the “new” Main Library opened April 18, 1996. Over the course of its 142-year history, the Library has significantly expanded its footprint boasting the 2nd most libraries per square mile in the country.
In June 2018, the Library was named Library of the Year by Gale/Library Journal for its active promotion of San Francisco’s values of inclusion, diversity, and equity, and its ability to create programs and policies that support those democratic values. The library embraces its role as the most democratic of institutions, providing safe and welcoming facilities for all. Through a robust array of services and programs, the library places an emphasis on literacy and learning, racial equity, digital inclusion, social justice, and healthy communities.
Little Free Library (https://littlefreelibrary.org/about/history/)
In 2009, Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one room schoolhouse. It was a tribute to his mother; she was a teacher who loved to read. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away.
UW-Madison’s Rick Brooks (retired from Little Free Library 2014) saw Bol’s do-it-yourself project while they were discussing potential social enterprises. Together, the two saw opportunities to achieve a variety of goals for the common good.
They were inspired by community gift-sharing networks, “take a book, leave a book” collections in coffee shops and public spaces, and most especially by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Around the turn of the 20th century, Carnegie set a goal to fund the creation of 2,509 free public libraries across the English-speaking world. That goal inspired Brooks and Bol to set their own goal of surpassing 2,509 Little Free Libraries by the end 2013. They wound up exceeding that goal in August of 2012, a year and a half before their target date.
By 2016 more than 50,000 Little Free Libraries had been installed in all 50 U.S. states and 70 countries. Little Free Library’s Impact Library Program also launched that year, granting no-cost libraries full of books to high-need communities.
On October 18, 2018, Todd Bol passed away from complications of pancreatic cancer, shortly after the organization celebrated the landmark 75,000th Little Free Library. He remained dedicated to Little Free Library’s mission in his last days, saying, “I really believe in a Little Free Library on every block and a book in every hand. I believe people can fix their neighborhoods, fix their communities, develop systems of sharing, learn from each other, and see that they have a better place on this planet to live.”
2019 marked 10 years of Little Free Libraries and 2020 ushered in another big milestone: more than 100,000 Little Free Library book-sharing boxes installed worldwide. In 2022 we surpassed 150,000 libraries in 120 countries.
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Accessible from public property, but located on private property with the consent of the friendly owners.
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Bring tweezers and a pen!