Sunset Branch Library

Incredibly warm and helpful staff.
Gorgeous building.
Lovely children’s area.
No dedicated parking.
The romance novels, should you be looking for them, share shelves with Science Fiction. Makes sense if you think about it. Rawr,

The 2/​F, where the nonfiction books are, has a nook of 6 armchairs that are great for the tush after an entire half day of pounding the pavement. Quiet and neighborhood-​feeling.
Cozy would be a stretch to apply to this local Chinese-​heavy branch, but I for one appreciate that it’s here!

This place Rocks!!! The staff that works here are the best they are very helpful I will give them 10 stars! this place is the place to go for anything!

I love my SF libraries. An entire floor just for kids, wow nice!
I read Chinese books, so I love the large Chinese section. I love the comfy chairs to sit, read, sleep, wake up. read some more.
Then walk across the street and grab dumplings or a hot dog

Love this library! I come here very often to pick up books I ordered online. The online delivery service is great and the book selection is very good. Very convenient service. I wouldn’t recommend staying to study or work because the internet is slow and there isn’t a lot of study space.

I still love my library, how could I not love something that provides me with hours of reading enjoyment and things to ponder all for free
Now that there is a spawn of GIR it’s equally awesome to be able to borrow kiddo books. There is a quibble I have with the children’s section of this library though, I won’t take a star off for it because the library is still a great thing, but I would be remiss in not mentioning it. The thing is the children’s department is in the bowels of the building and the only way to access it is by A) winding your way down a rather rank claustrophobic concrete ramp that runs alongside and down (this entrance is on Irving Street I’m not terribly obvious if you are not familiar) or B) taking an often pungent and very slow elevator from the inside of the main upper-​level library. Not an Earth shattering issue but it can be a bit of bump in the road coming and going.

Good library in a historic building. Recommend reserving online and picking up as the selection is a bit spotty.

My only complaint is the homeless population this library attracts here. People pretend this aspect doesn’t exist, but you can’t escape it. The chairs you see in one of the pictures are soiled with homeless sweat and stank. That’s all I have against this place, but everyone has their right to attend a public library so there isn’t much I can do about that. It didn’t matter too much either because I was able to just bring the books back home with me (I used to live across the street from this library).
Great selection and you can order the books from other libraries to be sent to you at your convenience. It’s a great service, beautiful structure, and great staff.

I’ve been coming to this library since I was a student at Jefferson Elementary next door. As a child, I remember running to the library after school with my rolling backpack and blonde pigtails flying behind me. I would do my homework downstairs and then play iSpy on the computers. Oh, those were the days!
I’ve always been a nonfiction lover, and even as a child I remember checking out stacks of books on everything from cats to volcanos. I became a bit of a know-​it-​all after all that.
Fast forward 10+ years later, I still frequent this branch because little has changed (except for the completely renovated downstairs). These days you can still find me on the non-​fictions side of the library, just on the adult level now :] They have everything from books about neo-​paganism to hungarian cook books.
I like that this library has good hours, is nice and bright, has an extensive book collection, and has material in Russian.
There are a few things that can be approved. Firstly, I know it’s not their fault, but the kids outside are soo loud after school it’s hard to concentrate. When I was a kid, they really enforced silence, even outside. They even called our parents! These days, the kids can be screaming bloody murder outside and we just have to deal with it.
Secondly, they could use some outlets in the magazine/​comfy chair area
On a final note, smelly homeless people come in, esp during the rainy season. Not the library’s fault and they can’t really do anything about it so just warning you people. The smell can be quite foul, enough to make you move to the other side.

It’s not huge, but it is super convenient for me at a couple block walk. I occasionally sit down and read a book or two, and once in a great while bring my laptop here to work (as opposed to a coffee shop). Wifi is ok, fairly quiet place, there is some limited comfy seating.
The best part of the library is the whole system and online attributes. You can search for titles/​subjects etc., and have the books ready at your nearest library. I make heavy use of the renewing online feature as well.

This library has no free parking but the inside is small and cute. I would study here is there wasn’t so much foot traffic. It’s really small and cute

This library is kind of small. I notice there’s a elevator so i don’t this place has more than one floor. Theres not a lot of tables if you decided to come here to study. Very few computers if you want to use the internet. But if you bring your own laptop, then you can use their wireless internet. It can be fast or slow depending on how many people are at this library if you use their wireless internet. this place does have a good amounts of books to choose from. When i came here to study early afternoon like around 1, a lot more of older folks and young adults. Other than that, this place is nice and clean

Beautiful building. Broad selection. Curious demographics. Most people here are normal; students studying, seniors reading news from the old country. Then along comes the group that motivates you to go elsewhere for studying.
I attempted to attend a Sutro Baths historical film event. The viewing area was very crowded with earnest history buffs and homeless people getting in a nap before the library closed. Urine, snores, and alcoholic breath wafted past as we covered our noses during the film. But, eh, your regular night in SF.
Another time I came here to study. A middle aged white man asked me to watch his stuff for five minutes. I left the library five minutes until closing and still no sight of him. I notified the librarian in case an abandoned black backpack gave the impression of a bomb threat.
If you ever start feeling a little sheltered in your bubble, come here to meet your fellow Americans.

Venerable place. I came here much more often in the earlier years of my living in the Sunset, though now I much more often visit other branches like Ortega and West Portal. Amongst the libraries on this side of Golden Gate Park, I’d say this is the one that in daytime may be the hardest to park at (West Portal is probably second).
Like other branches, they did a good job with the remodel during recent year, though the difference in the before and after is tougher to distinguish.
The one small problem with this branch these days is there often tends to be people who appear homeless coming in with all their stuff and taking up couch seatings. Maybe this is due to its proximity to Golden Gate Park, just being one block away.

I just came out of this library and I couldn’t ask for more.
Located near the 19^th Ave intersection, it’s architecturally pleasing in contrast to the nearby colorful vinyl buildings. Inside, the library is quite small, quaint. There’s two tables that seat 8 and one that seats 4.
I worked for a few hours on my laptop, sipping on some $ 1 coffee bubble tea. The Wi-​Fi was blazing fast. Youtube 720p videos loaded instantly.
The demographics were 40% elderly Asian people reading their native language newspapers, 40% Asian kids on their laptops, and 20% other people.
I didn’t check out any books, but I did peruse the DVD section. It’s about 4 bookshelves full. The selection was surprisingly nice. I was able to get the following DVDs: Fantastic Planet, Precious (subtitled in Chinese and English [I hope]), Paranoid Park, Corpse Bride, The Ballad of Narayama, and Flight of the Red Balloon. Some of these are likely unavailable on Netflix streaming. The library policy allows you to have 50 items, any mix of media. FIFTY!
That said, this may not be the ideal place to study. Because this library is so small, the tables can be filled when it is busy. If you need a long-​term place to study or some extra room, I suggest you trod to UCSF’s phenomenal library.
It was an overall great library experience, perfectly fitting for the Sunset.

I used to be obsessed with my college town library.
Each mellow night, instead of studying, I would stock up on Sex and the City DVDs, get out some music CDs, and peruse their self help books for good reads.
Cuddled up on my narrow twin size college bed, I would fall asleep to Carrie and Mr. Big’s relationship woes.
It was great.
When I first moved back to San Francisco I would spend endless hours at the Mission library. Camped out on their floor, flipping through books, and using their computer for internet.
But once I became more settled, and found myself spending far less time in the Mission I forgot about the valuable resource that is library.
Until recently — when I stumbled upon the Richmond Library and fell in love. Admiring their DVD selection, their new releases, and their magazine selection I remembered why I adored the library.
This past weekend I decided to take a stroll in the Sunset and came across the Sunset Library branch. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t even know the Sunset Library existed. I was smitten. It was spacious. It was accessible. There were studious people working in it. Computers to use. DVDS to check out. Library books just beckoning to be read.
I was in love.
In love.
I asked at the counter what I needed in order to get a library card. All i needed was my drivers license (needs to have your current address). Done and done. In a matter of minutes I had a sparkling new library card.
I went over to the DVD section — grabbed two wonderful DVDs and used the self-​check out machines at the front to officially make them mine for seven days.
I walked out of that glorious library with a bounce. I now have a go-​to source for books, music, and movies. For free. The world of literature is at my fingertips.
Trust.

I LOVE the public library! Seriously, how can you lose in this situation? Free books, free music, free movies, tons of good resources… it’s win all around. I love the monthly newsletters with recommendations based on genre! I also love that I can reserve a book from any branch and pick it up at the Sunset location. I’m sure they do that everywhere but I still consider it pretty magical.
HOWEVER (I’m going to go on a tiny rant here): The parking around this building is awful. I’m sure they mean to encourage my environment-​killing a$$ to walk or ride MUNI, but I don’t have the patience for that (and I’m fine being that way, thanks). I’m usually hauling a load of 7 — 10 very heavy books, and I can’t make that walk from my apartment by the beach, OK? They have a 5-​min parking area right in front for those of us who just want to pop in and out, but it seems like they nobody enforces it. I rolled by but couldn’t find any spots, so I went and picked up lunch and came back 20 minutes later. The SAME cars were still parked out front. Could someone please do something about that?
I’m lazy, I’m not changing, so please, to the patrons: If you’re in the 5 minute spot and you plan on being there longer — find somewhere else to park. Please leave so the crazy busy people in evil cars can run into the library to grab their Miley Cyrus CD (I have NO SHAME about this) and run home. Thank you!

I don’t stay at the library, I come & go.
Sometimes I go through a phase of getting a bunch of DVDs & on a rare occasion books requested & transferred to this branch. I like how it’s on the shelves where I can get to & I don’t have to ask the check-​out person to get the stuff I have on hold like some libraries. Yeah… sometimes I like to get Disney movies and it’s weird because I’m so old, I don’t want to be judged. The process is relatively quick since they have self check-​out too. Throughout this entire process, I don’t need to interact with anyone, just get it & go. I’m anti-​social like that.
You can borrow books, magazines, music scores, DVD/​VHS, audio, sheet music… each item has a limit on the type of item (ie. book, DVD/​VHS), renewal limit, amount of days borrowing
Sometimes the DVDs are scratched and skips which is really irritating to watch, ughh but hey it’s free… I guess. Maybe it’s not, my tax dollars are spent here.
I wish they had a parking lot.

I finally came to this branch! I’ve been to the one in Parkside, Ortega, the Main and now the Sunset branch. I have to say it’s quite nice and clean and BRIGHT! It gets a lot of outside light which is nice. It makes you want to hang out here.
It is small, but they do have a decent selection of books to choose from. They have a lot of spots to sit, but today my ass wasn’t going to get to sit anywhere. The chairs even looking comfortable. A diverse number of folks were inside reading, catching up on a magazine, reading a bit of a book to see if it’s worth checking out, catching up on school work or surfing the internet. It was nice and quiet and busy, but maybe everyone else had the same idea of me of wanting to just hang out inside in a warm place to read and work.
My only complaint is because of the amount of seating, it makes it a little too cozy when browsing any books along the wall. You can’t move that much or you might bump someone in the head or run into a shelf.
It’s nice it’s open till 9pm on some nights, but it would be nice to have longer hours on the other days of the week and weekends. Oh well, you can’t have it all.
The staff is nice and they now have new cool library cards. They have a couple to choose from, but now they cost 50 cents for kids, $ 1 for adults. The cards were the finalists for a design contest done through the SF Unified School District. Cool, huh?
Libraries seem a bit like one of those hidden gems you forgot exists when you live in a town/​city. It’s free and you can learn and escape to anywhere you want. I think I’ll be trying to head down here more often … at least before my card expires again for the 3^rd time!
Now get your ass down to your local branch to pick up a book and expand your mind … it’s worth it!

The place for encouragement.
I’m currently struggling amidst the woes of unemployment, not to mention the serious dumbness that seems to settle over me every morning when I have ceased to exercise my daily mental exasperation over burnt coffee and leftover paper clips strung over the counters and paper shreds littering my conscience.
Since I was seeking some peace and quiet, not to mention scour the classifieds for job postings, I stumbled upon the SFPL-​Sunset Branch. Nice large building as well as ample parking space if one is set to walk for a block or two.
The first thing I am most impressed with, is that it is relatively quiet in here, give or take the typical cellphone going off and the loser who forgot to hit mute. Second, for laptop users, the desks here are awesome. Each desk seats around four or five with outlets that pop-​out of the desks for efficiency and accessibility. WiFi is free, although there are pay-​for-​use computers for others without a laptop. These are timed for 15 minute increments, despite seeing time violators during my three hour hermitage there (this one dude was jumping seats everytime someone got up) and another unsavory dude was chatting on MySpace and kept on looking over his shoulder as if he were breaking the law. Ewwww.
Last but not least, is the helpfulness of the employees here. I was impressed. Any question, about the printer, the location of books… they were all too happy to help and actually got up from their stations to walk over printer instructions as well as point out the location of books.
I was most pleased with the Political Science section and a book on Hezbollah actually piqued my eyeballs when I did a quick walk through. In addition to book (Fiction/​Non-​Fiction/​Biographies), they had a good selection on Foreign Languages (Listening materials were available too) as well as Music CDs and the International Collections was impressive for this little branch.
At the start of my day, my table was taken by three grade-​school girls reading four to five books, full immersion.
My hope for a literate future is going strong, thanks to this branch.