Word: mainly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...tasteful and forward-thinking is the Main Library that it's almost possible to overlook its biggest lack--books. Bookshelves seem like an afterthought amid the "centers" and galleries that line the building, so much so that the stacks are omitted entirely from the map distributed at the information desk. The entire general fiction collection, for instance, is contained in one row of bookshelves along a single wall. While the Main claims about a million books, most are hidden away in special compact stacks accessible only to staff members, or in underground storage areas from which titles must be specially...
...English literature, or biology, or history or art. But aside from a few seemingly random choices (the Business and Technology Center, the Steve Silver/Beach Blanket Babylon Music Center), virtually all the centers focus on particular racial, ethnic or sexual minorities. The library's mission statement declares that the Main Library is dedicated to promoting "the joys of reading for our diverse community," but the centers interpret that diversity in the most literal sense. A "center" for black readers ought to contain more than books on race; a gay man or woman might have interests beyond k.d. lang's life story...
...fact, the library as a whole is itself the most appropriate African American Center, the ideal Gay and Lesbian Center; the best place for readers of any race or ethnicity or sexual orientation seeking to broaden their knowledge and their perspective on the world. The actual users of the Main Library are an eloquent confirmation of that fact. On a weekday afternoon they sprawl on the expensive chairs and sit at the wired wooden desks, reading contentedly, together in the stacks. As a symbol of diversity, a homeless man and a suburban teenager sitting next to each other absorbed...
...Francisco Public Library brochure quotes the head city librarian: "Modern libraries are becoming much-needed community centers for people." No doubt community centers are fine things, but libraries already have a job to play. The Main Library should take a page from Widener: Forget fancy atriums and identity politics. The chain-link fences don't matter. The library should be a home for books; the architecture will take care of itself...
Although Schrag has not yet decided how to spend the money, he said increasing awareness of global issues is one of his main priorities...