Help Create The News Of Tomorrow

Cool San Diego

Photos of historic “Book Pass” in Mission Hills

A photo essay of the Book Pass and grand opening of the Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Harley & Bessie Knox Library.

Presidio Sentinel

Come Celebrate an Amazing Accomplishment

We are soon to celebrate a very substantial accomplishment that is a collaborative effort of two communities, Mission Hills and Hillcrest, and the San Diego Public Library Foundation. It’s a new community library that is named after the donors who gave generously to this effort. Private funding, including $5 million from the Hervey Family Fund and the Harley and Bessie Knox Memorial Fund at The San Diego Foundation, and other generous individual donors.

CityTV

Library book sorting frees staff for customer service

The Library has implemented automated book processing to get materials to Library locations quicker, reduce costs and to free staff for direct customer service.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Early numbers strong on San Diego’s elimination of library fines

Circulation in San Diego’s 36-branch library system is up 24 percent since city officials on July 1 eliminated fines for returning items late, but the data are likely skewed by an “automatic renewal” policy implemented last January.

Times of San Diego

Central Library Opens Digital Memory Lab to Help Public Preserve Their Past

Last Saturday, the Digital Memory Lab opened its doors offering the public a free, innovative, do-it-yourself space that allows users to turn old pictures, negatives, slides, audio and video recordings into new electronic files.

Library Foundation transition

Jay Hill has decided to leave the Library Foundation as CEO at the end of the fiscal year−June 30, 2019. The Library Foundation Board of Trustree has begun a search process to identify a new CEO and will be working with Jay on a smooth transition.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Library returns with 2nd annual Matchbook Story contest

The Library Shop at the Central Library is hosting the 2nd annual Matchbook Story Contest. Entries have to fit inside the cover of a matchbook.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Human Library aims to break stereotypes through honest conversation

Library program allows people sign up for 20-minute slots of time during which they could “check out” and have a casual conversation with a “human book,” a person with a particular life experience that is generally stereotyped such as “refugee,” “punk entrepreneur,” “rapper,” “disabled,” “journalist,” “dwarfism,” “blind,” “transgender,” “veteran,” “Muslim,” “graffiti artist” and “psychic.”

San Diego Public Library Foundation

Library lab manager brings STEAM to teens in southeastern San Diego

The Legler Benbough Teen IDEA Lab at the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library has something for every student, whether they want to record a song, use a 3-D printer or even relax and play video games.

CBS8

Wave goodbye to overdue fees at the San Diego Public Library

Beginning July 1st, the San Diego Public Library will no longer charge a daily fee for items returned past their due date. The new policy will allow staff to use its time and resources much more efficiently.

CBS8

The 2018 How-To Festival

Have you ever wondered how to use aromatherapy in your life? Or been curious about reading Tarot cards? Want to learn to dance the Flamenco? You can learn all of these, plus dozens many more at the How-To Festival at your local public library!

The San Diego Union-Tribune

New policy would ease unequal distribution of library resources in San Diego

San Diego is changing its Library “matching funds” policy– a policy that widens the gap in financial resources between library branches in rich and poor neighborhoods.

KUSI TV

Future of San Diego Libraries

One of the gems really appreciated in San Diego is the public library system and there are some big events coming up. KUSI was joined by Library Director Misty Jones with more on the “Spring into Steam” event.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Construction of new San Ysidro library to begin

The City breaks ground on the new $13.5 million library situated on a 1.62-acre lot on East Seaward Avenue at Beyer Boulevard. The single-story, 15,000-square-foot facility will replace a decades-old and much smaller library located on West San Ysidro Boulevard.

San Diego Magazine

Misty Jones: “Libraries are the great equalizer”

San Diego Public Library Director Misty Jones speaks of the encounter with a patron that changed her professional life and reinforced for her the critical importance of libraries in the community.

NBC7 San Diego

Library and volunteer print new prosthetic hand

Central Library’s Lend A Hand Club helped design and print a new prosthetic hand for Nick Sissakis.

San Diego Union-Tribune

“First Folio” celebrations announced

The long-awaited San Diego visit by the First Folio, the 17th-century volume that introduced Shakespeare’s collected works to the world, is now barely three months away. And the Old Globe Theatre and the San Diego Public Library, which teamed to bring the book here as part of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s national traveling exhibition, have just announced the full schedule not just for Folio viewing but for the scads of free events leading up to and surrounding its arrival.

Fox5 San Diego

San Diego Zoo Kids, a groundbreaking educational television channel that will entertain young kids, is now a part of the Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common to connect them to wildlife

San Diego Reader

A review of the The Kassianna (Living Room) cafe at the Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common.

The La Jolla Light

The La Jolla/Riford Branch Library launches a new 3-D printing and biotech lab, the first of its kind in the nation.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

The Auditorium at the Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common has been dedicated to the late San Diego journalism icon Neil Morgan.

Here & Now from Boston NPR radio (WBUR)

In 1915, San Diego Hired A Rainmaker And Floods Ensued

San Diego Public Library Special Collections Librarian Rick Crawford discusses the curious case of Charles Hatfield who claimed to have brought rain to San Diego in 1915.

Orange County Register

Libraries are becoming hubs for collaboration and innovation

Irvine is considering a new library that would be a workplace hub for collaboration, technology and social interaction. Leaders there point to the transformation in what a Library can be as a leading reason why the facility is essential to their community and use the San Diego Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common as an example of that transformation.

UT-San Diego

Mayor Faulconer announces efforts to allow adults to earn a high school diploma at the Library and to increase internet access speed

In his State of the City address, Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced the launch of Career Online High School that allows adults to earn a high school diploma using Library resources. He also announced his plans to triple the speed of internet access at all San Diego Public Library locations.

UT-San Diego

Library: Heart of Logan Heights. Cherished San Diego branch celebrates 100th anniversary

The cherished Logan Heights Library celebrated its 100th year of serving the community in January 2015. UT-San Diego looks at how the Library has served the community over the past century.

UT-San Diego

Mitch Albom visits Central Library for ideas to take home to Detroit

Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays With Morrie and the Five People You Meet in Heaven, recently toured the Central Library for ideas to take back and implement in Detroit. Mr. Albom recently purchased a shuttered library from the City of Detroit for $1 and is looking to reopen it.

U-T San Diego

Urban Library Council honors Joan and Irwin Jacobs

The Urban Library Council presented Irwin and Joan Jacobs for their leadership and generosity that helped ensure completion of the Central Library that now bears their name. In naming the Jacobs the recipients of the prestigious 2014 Urban Player Award, the Council noted that the Jacobs involvement ensured “the library was able to open last fall debt-free and without the assistance of city bonds, general fund money or new taxes.”

UT San Diego

Library gains hours, tutoring program and materials funding in approved budget

The San Diego City Council approved and Mayor Faulconer signed a fiscal year 2015 budget that increase library hours at all locations to a level not seen in ten years. The Library-friendly budget also includes money for an after-school tutoring program at 18 branches. The City Council also returned $500,000 to the Library’s materials budget that was originally removed in the proposed budget.

UT San Diego

Library Shop Manager Erin Zlotnik profile

The Library Shop at the Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common is a unique shopping venue cooperatively run by the Library Foundation, Friends of the Library and the San Diego Public Library. All proceeds support the Library system. UT San Diego talked with Shop Manager Erin Zlotnik.

U-T San Diego

$10 million donation moves Hillcrest-Mission Hills Library

A $10 million private donation may allow construction crews to break ground soon on a long-awaited library branch serving Hillcrest and Mission Hills. The gift, which consists of $5 million from the Hervey family and $5 million from an anonymous donor, covers nearly half the cost of the $20.3 million project.

UT San Diego

Promising start for story of library

Seven months after the opening of the Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common, UT columnist looks at the progress. “It still has some surprises up its civic sleeve. From happy success stories to a few plot wrinkles.”

UT San Diego

Mayor’s proposed FY15 budget would add hours to all San Diego libraries

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer is proposing additional hours at all libraries. If approved, this budget would result in the highest number of open library hours in a decade. The budget would mean each Library would be open at least 48 hours a week. Currently, eight libraries are open Sundays. The proposed budget would expand that to 12 libraries open Sundays. Additionally, the Central Library would be open an additional five hours a week to 54 hours. This budget also creates a new service to provide after-school tutoring at 18 libraries in neighborhoods where standardized test scores have been the lowest in the city.

10News

Central Library a popular new spot for for events, including weddings

Library Director Deborah Barrow informed the City Councils Budget Committee about the new Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common’s popularity among groups holding meetings. More than 70 events were booked at the library through January of this year, including author talks, luncheons, concerts and bar mitzvahs. Another 70 are booked through the end of this fiscal year on June 30. The Library also is a hot new spot to tie the knot, with requests for matrimonial ceremonies coming in at a rate of 10 per month.

UT-San Diego

Baseball research material donated to the Library a treasure trove

The San Diego Public Library was selected by the estate of William Weiss as the home of Mr. Weiss’ legendary baseball history collection. The collection was jointly donated to the Library and the local chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research and will be on permanent display on the eighth floor in the San Diego Central Library’s Sullivan Family Baseball Research Center.

Engineering News and Analysis

San Diego’s Library Dome is a Structural Wonder

The new San Diego Central Library project features a broad range of unique structural solutions, from its cast-in-place architectural concrete frame beams and columns to its exposed concrete waffle slabs. Its chief crowning glory, however, is its distinctive silver dome. The dome that sets the building off, providing shade and acclimatising the eighth floor main reading room, is the largest steel post-supported segmented dome in the world.

UT San Diego

Central Library earns national engineering award

The latest kudo for the new San Diego Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common is the 2013 National Award for Excellence in Structural Engineering. The award recognizes creative structural design, engineering that solves complex problems and innovative use of techniques. The dome was specifically cited by the National Council of Structural Engineers Association’s award as the largest steel post-supported segmented dome in the world.

City Beat

San Diego Public Library’s Visual Arts Program evolves

Kara West takes on new role of guiding and expanding the San Diego Public Library’s Visual Arts Program. West oversees an expansive arts program. Her goal, she says, is to make it more transparent and accessible.

City Heights Life

READ San Diego program helps parents prepare their children to read

The new Ready to Read program will provide parents a free, literacy toolkit that will include activities, ideas, and supplies that they can use to prepare their children for school. The initiative is a partnership of several community organizations, including READ San Diego, the Library’s literacy program.

Mayor Todd Gloria State of the City Address

Mayor Gloria calls Central Library “icon that embodies San Diego’s commitment to the future”

Mayor Gloria led off his State of the City remarks hailing the San Diego Central Library. “San Diegans dreamed of a new central library. Public, private and nonprofit sectors worked together to make that dream a reality. That’s how it’s supposed to work. The library is a road map for San Diego to follow as we chart our path to the future. Built with unprecedented collaboration, its soaring heights and breathtaking architecture remind us of the need to dream big, and the importance of working hard to accomplish those dreams.”

U-T San Diego

New City bond measure contains funds for four branch library improvements

The City Council unanimously approved funds to meet a backlog of needed infrastructure projects, including funds for branch library improvements at the Hillcrest-Mission Hills, San Carlos, Skyline Hills and San Ysidro Branch Libraries.

San Diego Uptown News

Ralph DeLauro Brings Great Cinema to San Diego Libraries

When the lights dim and the first scene of a film begins at the Central Library’s Film Forum, Ralph DeLauro feels most alive. DeLauro, beloved by film buffs all around San Diego, has presented films at libraries for decades. It’s not a way of life for him; it is his life.

Chicago Tribune

Libraries evolving to meet American’s new information needs

Americans are moving away increasingly from the printed page to digital screens for information and communication. Library leaders nationwide are adapting to this shift by reimagining the library as an engaged community center. The role of librarians is being re-branded to reflect their expertise as content curators and trusted navigators in an ever-expanding ocean of information — in whatever format it may exist.

Pew Internet & American Life Project

95 percent of Americans believe public libraries are key to giving everyone a chance to succeed

A national survey of Americans reveals that they strongly value the role of public libraries in their communities, both for providing access to materials and resources and for promoting literacy and improving the overall quality of life. Most Americans say they have only had positive experiences at public libraries, and value a range of library resources and services.

San Diego Magazine

Highly Hospitable to Art

All nine floors of the new Central Library have art on the walls, and occasionally on the floor. Commissioned works, large and small, have been smoothly integrated into its interior. The new downtown center for literature and learning–and art and culture–is a public destination that is decisively hospitable to art.

Webcam video

A unique webcam movie detailing construction of the Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common from ground level (April 2010) through the end of construction.

Publisher's Weekly

The Library Shop Opens in San Diego

New Library Shop at the Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common full of great literary themed items. A partnership among the Library Foundation and the Friends of the San Diego Public Library, the shop features a selection of books, jewelry, children’s merchandise, gifts and library-branded totes, mugs, and T-shirts. Shop proceeds support the Library system.

Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe

Visiting the New San Diego Central Library

Our new downtown library is truly a wonder…including the Marilyn and Gene Marx Special Collections Room and genealogical resources. Thanks to the San Diego Genealogical Society’s addition of their large collection, this is now the largest genealogical collection in the region.

Solutions for State and Local Government

San Diego Central Library Goes with Passive Optical

Technology news…A new passive optical network should reduce the library’s network power costs and operational costs by more than half.

KPBS

Which artist has the most work on view in new San Diego Library?

Visual art isn’t usually the main attraction at a library, but it has definitely become more prominent at San Diego’s brand new central library.

San Diego Magazine

Inside the new Central Library It’s not just a library, folks. It’s a community hangout!

A lot of people see the word “library” and think of an outdated, smelly room with dusty paper volumes. But the new Central Library at 330 Park Boulevard (near Petco Park) is a spectacular, high-tech, art-filled community hang-out.

Voice of San Diego

Behind grand new library, a distinct vision

Architect Rob Wellington Quigley’s buildings are a bit like the full name he likes to use — a blend of casual, refined and quirky.

San Diego News

New library opens amid literary fanfare

With its gleaming silver dome etched across downtown’s cityscape, the new, nine-story central library was officially dedicated Sept. 28 with praise, song and cheers from a throng of well-wishers.

San Diego Downtown News

New library ‘a dream come true’

Bands played and children sang while politicians and dignitaries extolled the virtues of the new high-tech library at an all-day festival of food, entertainment and fun for the official public dedication of San Diego’s new Downtown Central Library on Saturday, Sept. 28.

U-T San Diego

Browsing the new library

In addition to being huge, the new San Diego Central Library at Joan and Irwin Jacobs Common is all-encompassing.

La Jolla Light

Stories Full of Stories: San Diego’s new Central Library is a landmark achievement

After 30 years of planning, controversy, fundraising and hard work, the new San Diego Central Library is finally a reality, and deserves a rousing cheer, or three.

U-T San Diego

Central Library use soaring

New downtown landmark draws 8,000 daily, many new library card applicants

San Diego Free Press

Opening of the New San Diego Central Library: a Grand and Glorious Occasion

Saturday, Sept. 28, will go down in San Diego history as the day the much awaited central library opened in San Diego.

San Diego CityBeat

New San Diego library: a living monument to literacy

On June 28, 2010, the San Diego City Council was asked to allow construction of a new central library to proceed in East Village. The problem was that the project was $32.5 million short and up against a hard deadline.

U-T San Diego

Video: First Book Checked Out at Central Library

Fox 5

New downtown library opens

NBC 7 San Diego

New Central Library opens to public

After 30 years of planning the new San Diego Central Library will open to the public. NBC 7’s Sherene Tagharobi reports.

Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Sherene6A0930_San-Diego-225822571.html#ixzz2ju8McVhr

10 News

San Diego Central Library opens to the public

The $185 million, nine-story facility at 330 Park Blvd. in downtown’s East Village opened at 9:30 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m., according to library officials, who said the normal hours of operation for Mondays will be noon to 8.

NBC 7 San Diego

Tour the new SD Central Library

The San Diego Central Library has its grand opening festival on Sept. 28, but NBC 7’s Greg Bledsoe got a sneak peek at what awaits inside.

KPBS

After 30 years, San Diego Central Library now open to the public

The weekend was filled with inaugural ceremonies for the new library, but Monday is its first day open for business.

U-T San Diego

Marriage proposal is written in stone in library courtyard

Patio proposal: Jonathan Moore, 44, gave his girlfriend a brick for Christmas. Not just any brick.

U-T San Diego

First users hail new library

Newcomers lined up for library cards and regulars found new niches for reading as only minor glitches marred the long-awaited opening of the $196.7 million San Diego Central Library at Joan and Irwin Jacobs Common.

San Diego Free Press

Photo Gallery: Sneak Peek of the San Diego Central Library

The San Diego Central Library, “a dream 30 years in the making” according to T-shirts worn by the staff, is a dream on the cusp of being realized as it opens for business Monday, Sept. 30, at 9:30 a.m.

Los Angeles Times

San Diego celebrates its long-awaited new library

The first of 46 studies saying the city needed a new central library was done in 1971. At last, $184.9 million later, here it is.

U-T San Diego

Library stories at your feet

In the last year or so, supporters of the San Diego Public Library Foundation have purchased more than 3,000 specially inscribed commemorative bricks that are set into the library’s ground floor.

KUSI

Thousands gather for dedication of brand new Central Library

This thirty-year dream is now a reality. Sunday thousands gathered to celebrate the dedication of the 300,000-square-foot library.

10 News

San Diego Central Library dedicated, official name unveiled

San Diego’s long-awaited Central Library was dedicated Saturday in front of thousands of area residents, as the $185 million facility’s official name was unveiled and a last major donation was announced.

U-T San Diego

Central Library: A smile-filled sneak peek

The San Diego Central Library, renamed and fully funded, opened for a smile-filled sneak peek in downtown’s East Village Saturday, with kids craning for a chance to check out a book and parents itching to see the panoramic views from the dome-topped roof.

U-T San Diego

Touring the new Central Library

The new Central Library offers diverse spaces for reading, art, performance and community engagement. Explore the architect’s favorite spots and listen to him talk about his inspiration for each.

U-T San Diego

A San Diego Dream Comes True

Finally, after 36 years, San Diego this weekend gets a visionary new downtown central library — and so much more. It is a library for the digital age and for the age of civic engagement.

Voice of San Diego

Photos: Inside the New Central Library

The new San Diego Central Library is slated to host a sneak-peek opening on Saturday and today, they offered media a sneak peek of the sneak peek.

U-T San Diego

Subtext Of Joy

Architect highlights whimsical features of dome-topped Central Library, which will be dedicated on Saturday.