Biggest 10 Public Libraries in California

By Michael Goldman, co-founder with Deborah Marks  of Citizens for Sunnyvale Parks and Green Spaces

Deborah Marks is also leader of Sunnyvale Urban Forests Advocates
http://www.SunnyvaleUrbanForestAdvocates.org/

The Sunnyvale 144,000 square foot (SF) Library of the Future described in the "Needs Assessment" by Anderson Brule Architects would have been the 6th largest public library in California.  Even the "interim" 116,000 SF Library of the Future would come in at number 9 in size order.

Sunnyvale is 38th in population among CA cities.  Most cities the size of Sunnyvale get a main library roughly the size of Sunnyvale's and then expand by adding branches.  We look at that here:
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2015/10/ca-cities-like-sunnyvale-their-libraries.html

Out of over 1100 libraries in California here are the 10 largest with their cities:

1.  Los Angeles Central - 538,802 SF

Pop. 3.8M - 57 Additional Branches

Los Angeles Central - 538,802 SF

2.  San Diego Central - 376,000 SF
Pop. 1.4M - 35 Additional Branches

San Diego Main - 476,000 SF building (but 100K SF used by charter schools)

C.f. post here: http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2015/09/san-diegos-monumental-main-library.html

3.  San Francisco: Main - 376,000 SF
Pop. 852K - 27 Additional Branches

San Francisco Main - 376,000 SF

4.  San Jose: Martin Luther King, Jr. - 475,000 SF
Pop. 1.0M - 18 Additional Branches

Nominally 475,000 SF but SJSU students seem to use 85% of it

This is jointly run with San Jose State University.  Why isn't this in position number 3 since the sq. ft. number is higher than San Francisco's?  Because the city residents don't use much of it.  A casual observer would note that 7 of the 8 floors are completely occupied by students from San Jose State University.  The San Jose city librarian says she only pays for 177,000 square feet of it.  I personally doubt the local residents use even 60,000 SF.  It has no parking so anyone going there has to go to an expensive lot, walk a few blocks to the library and get parking validation.  Few live nearby except SJSU students.

C.f.,bottom of blog post: http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2015/09/aba-libraries.html

5.  Sacramento Central - 160,000 SF
Pop. 1.4M (City and County) - 27 Additional Branches

This old library is only 10% larger than the 144K SF proposed Library of the Future

This modern entrance is in the middle of the building facing the street.

Original Building - Currently this comprises only about half the library

This "street view" captures the entire length but all those trees get in the way

The width of the building

This illustrates one way to get a large library.  Don't tear down what you've got, just add on.

6.  Long Beach Main - 135,000 SF
Pop. 474,000 - 11 Additional Branches

This is where Sunnyvale's 144,000 SF Library of the Future would be if it were ever built - the 6th largest library in California.  Long Beach's would then come directly after in 7th place.  Sunnyvale's population is 147,000 or 31% of Long Beach's.  Long Beach is 50 sq. miles (land area). Sunnyvale's land area is 22 sq. miles = 44% the size of Long Beach.  Long Beach has twelve libraries including this.  Sunnyvale has one.

Long Beach Civic Center - Library in foreground under the green roof

The above Civic Center was constructed in the 1970's over the pre-existing Lincoln Park - a small part of which still exists in the corner of the block with more dogs than children and a contingent of the homeless.  The green roof has been closed to public use for well over a decade.  A new Civic Center is planned at a cost of $358M with the current one to be demolished.  It would be partly financed by selling some of the land to developers to build condos and office space including what would be the city's tallest building at 36 stories. C.f. http://www.presstelegram.com/government-and-politics/20150820/new-long-beach-civic-center-plans-envision-an-artsy-lincoln-park

Interior of Library

7.  Pasadena Central - 135,000 SF

Pop. 141,000 - 9 Additional Branches

Pasadena built a beautiful civic center including a library in 1927.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It was designed with the idea that it could be expanded without hurting the architectural integrity of the building.  Consistent with this intent it was expanded and seismically retrofitted over the years.  Much more of it's history in several pages starting with page one here:

http://cityofpasadena.net/library/about_the_library/central_library/architecture_brief_history/

Pasadena is slightly smaller in population than Sunnyvale and has 10(!) libraries including this main one.  Pasadena's land area is 23 sq. miles compared to Sunnyvale's 22 sq. miles.

8.  Kern County Library (Bakersfield) - 128,165 SF

Pop. Kern County = 850,000 (Bakersfield = 369,000)

24 Additional Branches

The officially titled Beale Memorial Library is the largest library in the largest city in Kern County.

Click on this or any photo to enlarge

9.  Huntington Beach Main - 115,000 SF
Pop. 200,000 - 4 Additional Branches

If the "interim" 116,000 sq.ft. Sunnyvale Library of the Future is ever built it would fit in here as the 9th largest library in California.

On the Pacific coast of Orange County, Huntington Beach is a large town famous for it's beaches and surfing.  The main library includes a community center theater which adds significantly to it's nominal square footage.  It is almost impossible to get a good photo of the building.

Google "Street View" - best I could do

Two levels inside (obviously)

Many solar panels over the parking lot

10.  Santa Monica Main - 105,000 SF

Pop. 93,000 - 3 Additional Branches

Santa Monica is surrounded on three sides by Los Angeles and the fourth by the Pacific Ocean.  Santa Monica has a small area of only 8.4 sq. miles vs. Sunnyvale's 22 sq. miles  It has an extremely large main library for its population with 3 small branches totaling an additional 12,000 sq.ft.  It actually has more library borrowers (99,000) than residents.  Clearly, it serves a much larger community than it's own residents.  Pix below from: http://www.moorerubleyudell.com/projects/santa-monica-public-library

Source for all library sizes:
https://ca.countingopinions.com/index.php?page_id=3
and
http://www.countingopinions.com/pireports/report.php?b826b375e99c904628efccac8c3f0a0c