The 110-year-old Mission District public library branch, which has been closed since 2020 for extensive renovations, will be back in service soon: It will reopen its doors on Saturday, Nov. 14, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Aztec dancers, a children’s story hour and live music.
The building at 300 Bartlett St., on the corner with 22nd Street, is one of seven San Francisco libraries deemed a landmark. It has been closed since March 2020 for renovations to make it more energy efficient and seismically safe, among other changes.
The library will now have a teenagers room with young adult books, a children’s room, a meeting space with capacity for 100 people, a new courtyard and two new bathrooms.
The Mission Branch Library began operating temporarily at 1234 Valencia St. in June 2022, though renovations did not start until August 2023. Those were estimated to take two years, but lasted three.
“We can’t thank you enough for your patience and support,” read a statement from the San Francisco Public Library on the Mission branch’s reopening.
The renovations also include an earthquake retrofit and end the library’s use of natural gas — the space was outfitted with solar panels. An interior staircase on 24th Street was rebuilt after it was first removed in 1997 and the library’s original entrance on 24th Street was restored.
The renovations hit roadblocks on the way. In October 2024, Mission Local reported a months-long delay due to “unforeseen circumstances” with construction. A year later, we wrote that the library would reopen sometime in the spring of this year. But in May the opening was pushed back another six months.
The project’s cost to date is $36.5 million, according to a representative from the Planning Department, and its total budget is $40.7 million. That is up from an initial estimate of $19.8 million when the project was first unveiled to Mission residents in 2018.
“As families across our city navigate the rising cost of living, libraries are a haven of low-cost services and resources for so many communities,” Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote in a statement.
“Every neighborhood deserves great public spaces like this, and I’m glad the Mission will finally have its permanent library back with upgrades that serve people of all ages.”
The last day of the library’s temporary location on Valencia Street is Oct. 31.
