SF Main Library to close Saturday

The San Francisco Public Library’s main branch closed early Friday and will remain closed Saturday while crews do maintenance work on the sewage infrastructure under the building, a library spokeswoman said.

The building will be closed Saturday because crews must shut off the water in the building, San Francisco Public Library spokeswoman Michelle Jeffers said. Library officials closed the library Friday afternoon as part of the necessary work. The library will reopen Sunday at noon for regular hours.

Jeffers said the current problem is not the same as in an incident last year, when stopped up drains in one or more bathrooms in the branch closed the library three hours early on Aug. 20. That problem was resolved before the end of the day. Jeffers said most of the events scheduled at the library Saturday will be rescheduled.

The children’s poetry reading “We Are All Poets,” with former San Francisco poet laureate devorah major, will be rescheduled for sometime in the next several weeks, Jeffers said. Saturday the library will have a bookmobile outside the main branch so patrons can check out books and return books to avoid a fine, Jeffers said.

The sewage system work at the library seems to be unrelated to the sewer system upgrades being conducted throughout The City, Jeffers said.

She said it seems to be an internal sewage pump that’s part of the library’s sewage system. Jeffers said the library’s system needs some major work. Library officials are encouraging patrons to use one of the other 27 branches in The City.