San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
City’s libraries beloved — and used differently now
With library buildings closed, book talks moved online and millions of fewer items checked out, the pandemic transformed San Francisco’s public libraries.
Two and a half years later, all library branches are now open and operating at pre-COVID hours, and circulation has nearly bounced back from its pandemic low.
But despite these recoveries, some pandemic changes remain: Visitor numbers are still low, there are fewer in-person programs, and borrowing habits, which shifted more toward digital during the pandemic, have yet to shift back.
Between March 2020 and May 2021, the San Francisco Public Library did not have indoor services at any of its locations, including the Main Library at Civic Center and the 28 branches around the city.
In lieu of borrowing physical books and other items, residents could check out digital materials, including ebooks, streaming content, and digital newspapers and magazines. As a result, digital circulation during these months rose by at least 40%. December 2020 recorded the library’s highest monthly digital circulation of over 555,000 — a 50% increase from the previous December.
The library began its gradual return to in-person services in August 2020 with a front-door pickup service where cardholders collected physical items requested in advance. It wasn’t until May 2021 that the Main Library opened its doors to visitors for the first time since the pandemic.
Branch openings followed in the coming weeks and months, though locations operated on limited hours for most of 2021 and parts of 2022. It took until October 2022 for all branches to return to prepandemic hours.
Data on the number of library visitors reflects this gradual recovery. Monthly visitors to library buildings and services in May 2021 — when they resumed indoor activities — totaled 61,000 people. That’s just 13% of the 470,000 who visited in May 2019.
More than a year later and with all branches reopened, visitor counts are higher, but they still lag behind pre-pandemic numbers. October had over 280,000 visitors, but that’s only a little over half the number of visits in October 2019 (over 480,000).
According to City Librarian Michael Lambert, visitor numbers remain low because the library has not yet restored some of its most popular in-person programs, particularly those geared toward children, who more recently got access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Pre-pandemic, the library put on about 19,000 classes, programs, events and exhibits, with more than 500,000 adults and children in attendance. Programming included story-time gatherings for kids and career-related workshops for adults.
The number of programs fell dramatically during COVID, when the library hosted virtual events. But because these programs could be accessed online by people anywhere, attendance shot up to more than 4 times the average attendance in 2019. “Know My Name” author Chanel Miller’s talk in 2021, for instance, drew more than 2,300 attendees from around the world, including Australia, Japan, and France.
People like the convenience and flexibility of virtual events, Lambert said.
The library now holds some hybrid events where people can attend in-person or tune in online. But the number of programs still lag behind pre-pandemic levels. And while attendance at adult programs remains higher than the pre-pandemic average, youth attendance is at about two-thirds of what it was in 2019. Lambert attributes the low youth attendance to the fact that in-person youth programming hasn’t been fully restored.
But resuming all programs will be hard to do without addressing staff shortages, said Lambert. The library currently has about 130 vacancies, which constitute 13% to 14% of staff positions.
Another factor limiting library visits may be the continued demand for digital checkouts that don’t require a visit to the library. While digital items made up about a third of circulation in 2018-19, they now constitute nearly 50%.
Data on cardholders’ borrowing habits also shows fewer patrons who borrow only physical materials and a larger share of digital-only and “omni users” — those who check out both physical and digital copies. On the day the library closed its doors on March 14, 2020, the library had about 244,000 active cardholders, 54% of whom borrowed only physical materials, 24% who were digital-only and 22% who were omni-users. By the end of last month, active cardholders totaled 224,000 — 20,000 fewer than pre-COVID — and the share of digital-only users increased 22 percentage points, omni-users were up 1 point and physical-only patrons down 23 points.
Similar to virtual programming, people enjoy the convenience and immediacy of digital materials, said Lambert.
Still, Lambert expects a continued recovery in physical circulation in the coming months. Combined with digital checkouts, total circulation for the current fiscal year is on track to eclipse 12 million, a record for the library.
Despite continued changes in the library’s operations, support for the library remains the same. This year’s November election saw resounding voter support for the Library Preservation Fund (Prop. F). The ballot measure, which funds library services for the next 25 years, passed at 83%.
“Book joy and library love is strong. That has not changed,” said Lambert.