History
In 1999, Friends of the San Francisco Public
Library and the Library Foundation of San Francisco combined; although
initially called Friends and Foundation, the organization is now called
Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.
Thirty-eight
years earlier, in 1961, the original Friends was founded by Marjorie
Stern, Mary Louise Stong, Hilde Kolb, and Grace Macduff Parker.
Volunteers performed every task in the first few years including
organizing book sales, processing membership contributions, staging
special exhibits, and sponsoring citywide poetry contests.
As
time went on, Friends began to play a more active role as an advocacy
organization for the Library. Those efforts culminated in 1988, when
Friends realized their long time goal of a new Main Library by
championing Proposition A, a bond issue that would fund $109.5 million
to build a new Main Library. To help pay for costs not covered by the
bond, the Library Foundation of San Francisco was established. An
extraordinary outpouring of more than 17,000 donations from the
residents and organizations of San Francisco and beyond made the vision
of a new Main Library into a reality, and the New Main opened its doors
on April 18, 1996.
Friends continued advocacy efforts by
championing the Library Preservation Fund, or Proposition E, in 1994.
The passage of Prop E established 15 years of funding by earmarking a
percentage of City revenue for the Library. The Fund has had tremendous
affect on our libraries; it enabled the library to increase operating
hours by 53% and expanded the budget for books and materials by almost
400%.
Noting the dire need to revitalize San Francisco’s branch
libraries and equip them for the twenty-first century, in 2000, Friends
(now merged with the Library Foundation) led a $106 million bond
measure to build and refurbish 24 neighborhood branch libraries
city-wide. As with the Main, public bonds will not pay for equipment or
furnishings inside the branches. To meet this need, Friends is charged
with raising $16 million through the Neighborhood Library Campaign.
In
2007, San Franciscans again resoundingly asserted the vitality of
libraries when they overwhelmingly to pass Proposition D, which asked
voters to renew the Library Preservation Fund and ensure another
fifteen years of stable funding for the library system. Prop D
received 74.5% of the vote, more votes than any other proposition on
the ballot. Over the next fifteen years, Prop D will bring in more
than $1.2 billion to the library—without raising taxes.
Since
its grassroots beginnings, Friends’ mission has grown to encompass
advocacy, fundraising, and programming to serve all neighborhoods of
San Francisco. Our commitment to empowering communities and raising
the standard of excellence for our libraries has never diminished.
