 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the public dedication of the new main library, your library. You have been listening to the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra conducted by Alistair Neal. The construction crew who are on our guard are behind me, and they are the men and women who built your library. OK, now back to work. Got to have this finished in about 20 minutes. 90 years ago and a few hours, there was the famous earthquake in San Francisco. On this very site was the city hall, a gold domed building. And in that building housed the San Francisco Library. At this very moment, the books that belonged to San Francisco were smoldering. But like all San Franciscans and what we have done in the past and continue to do, a new building of a library was built behind you 11 years later. It served as our library along with branches. And then like other things in San Francisco, it wasn't enough for us. There was a wonderful person, and there is a wonderful person, Marjorie Stern, who worked for 40 years on the longest campaign. And she with her friends of the library worked those 40 years, lobbying, talking to people, hard work, to get a bond issue passed in 1988, led by Mayor Agnos and his wife, Sherry. Then came the fun part of raising the funds. As you know, a bond issue can pay for the outside of a building, but not the inside. So my late husband, Mel, and I were asked to lead this campaign. Mel said of all the campaigns that he had been involved in, that this was the most important. This would build the most democratic of all institutions. The doors would be open to everyone. They would never be closed. He said, however, that this campaign must involve everyone because it must belong to the people, and they must have a stake in it. So the most incredible campaign developed with that vision. First of all, the foundations, wonderful, generous people, corporations came forward. Then as only in San Francisco, the affinity groups, our great diversity was shown by people coming forward. African-Americans, Latinos, Filipinos, Chinese, gay lesbians, regular people came forward. And you will see in your home, your library, the wonderful centers and collections that represent those cultures of our great city. 17,000 people gave to this library. There was one young man who gave seven cents that he fell on the street in the Tenderloin because he said this was his home. Thousands of children from the Tenderloin spend hours here because they have no other place to go. Senior citizens come here. People from out of town come here. You the people come here. There are 32 miles of books in this library. If they were put end to end, they would reach to all the corners of this city, from the Bayview Chinatown to Castro, from the Golden Gate Bridge to Golden Gate Park. These books take you places that not even if an airplane can take you to. But this campaign reached out to San Francisco. So you are the people that supported the bond issue. You are the people who paid for this library. And now you own this library. You can write home to your relatives in Tobica, Memphis, your college buddies in Hoboken, even Milshoe in Miniola, Texas, Arkansas. You can write home and say, hey, pal, I own a piece of real estate in San Francisco that's worth $140 million. You can say that you have 100 over 1 million books. You can say that you can invite 12,000 of your closest friends every day. New Orleans. You can say that you can seat 2,000 people in your home. You can say that you have 300 computers. You can say that you can lunch in a cafe with Amy Tan or Armistad Mopin. Or you can say that in my home, I can sit in a window seat and visit with Mark Twain, Dashiell Hammett, and Jack London. You can say that you can go into your viewing room and hear lectures, film, without a ticket. You can say that you could invite your friends that have hearing or blindness impairment because there are facilities and devices to make them feel comfortable in this library. You can say that you can invite your African-American friends, your Chinese friends, your Filipino friends, your Latino, and all the parts of this community. And they will feel comfortable because their cultures are here. You can bring children that are your grandchildren, children from the Tenderloin, your great-grandchildren. There are 30,000 books in the library. You can write home and say that the Children's Center is bigger than most libraries in any city in America. The books are in 50 language in the Children's Library and in all the library, 55 languages in books. You can say, if they're worried about an earthquake, that this is the safest place in town, the safest place probably in the world, it will take an 8.3 earthquake. This door will be open today, and there no longer will you have to have a key to your house or a ticket. You will not have to mow the grass, wash the windows, or do the floors because there is an endowment. My husband insisted on that endowment so that this could be preserved for you forever. Mel would be proud of this building. He would be proud that the deed is done. And he would be happy that the deed is given to you. But most importantly, he would be very proud of you for what you have done to have a library that belongs to you. So today, all of you who are a part of this, you can call it your library. You can say, this is the Lee Family Library. This is the O'Leary Family Library, the Hernandez, the Smiths, and the Jones. This is a dream come true as only it can in San Francisco and America. Today, the sun shines, and I put Mel in charge of this also today, because I thought he was closer to the source. So name it for your family, name it for yourselves, because it is your library. For me, it's the Mel Swig Library. And this is a wonderful San Francisco and America that you can have this wonderful building, this wonderful library that belongs to you here in San Francisco and America. These are skies for beautiful, for hatred's dreams. The song, the story in this library. We stand here today where once there was a wilderness. Now it is the home of a beautiful temple of knowledge. For eons all around us were vast sand dunes and dense underbrush where the grizzly bear and wolf once roamed. Where the Ohlone people came to hunt and to gather clams along the shores of Mission Bay. To the west, Franciscans built a mission. To the east, on the shores of the Bay, traders and then hordes of gold miners built a city that spread ever westward toward Twin Peaks. Right here, where we stand today, was one of the city's graveyard. Like all cities, San Francisco needed a library and needed it more than most. For this was a literary town, a town full of well-read immigrants, a town of scribblers like Ambrose Beers, Yellowbird, and Bret Hart. They came to have adventures and write about them. Tell me, have you ever heard of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer? They live in books in this building and come alive when children read about them. They were created by a man named Mark Twain, another writer who lived in our city for a while. The idea that in a democracy every person has a right to knowledge inspired many people and led them to call for the founding of a free library in this city in 1877. And so, the first library in San Francisco was opened in June of 1879. It was a modest affair, a few thousand books in a rented space on Brush Street near Kearney. It was an instant success. But there were too few books to be checked out. Patrons had to wait patiently for a seat at the tables in one large room. Have you ever heard of Long John Silver and the Pirates of Treasure Island? They live here. And the man who created them, Robert Louis Stevenson, lived in our city long ago. Imagine him tall, tall, sad-eyed, ambling down Bush Street from his apartment to climb the stairs of the public library. Construction on City Hall started in 1871. It eventually sprawled over several city blocks, including the ground where we are now sitting. The library moved in upstairs in 1893 to larger quarters. But still, the city lacked a main library building. A group of reformers took up the cause. In early April of 1906, they finalized plans for the reconstruction of San Francisco as a planned metropolis with a civic center, a new opera house, a great library, even a Greek amphitheater on Ashbury Heights. The city was alive with possibilities. It would become the Paris of the Pacific. No, it would be like Athens, like Rome. But on a gray dawn on the morning of April 18, 1906, exactly 90 years ago today, an earthquake roared along the San Andreas Fault and tore the heart out of our city. All around us, the mighty pillars of City Hall toppled with a deafening crash. The stone facade peeled away from the building's steel frame, leaving a massive ruin. The wing occupied by the library did not collapse, but soon its fate was sealed. Flames that started in a chimney on Hays Street were driven by a strong wind, worked their way eastward, and swept through City Hall. The city would rebuild, rising like the phoenix from the ashes. A grand civic center was envisioned. Five great buildings around the central plaza, first came City Hall, then the civic auditorium, then the state office building across the plaza. On February 15, 1917, a new main library was opened. Only the fifth building on this site was not completed. It remained vacant for years, a dream unfulfilled, but still the library flourished. By the end of the 1920s, the city had 15 branch libraries. As World War II was being fought, the main library reached capacity, one million books. Yet after the war, there began decades of civic neglect. The friends of the library was formed, and this intrepid and visionary group dreamed of a new main library on this spot and started a long fight to make it happen. There were years of budget cuts, shrinking collections, reduced hours, but the friends fought back and the system deteriorated. Toward the end of her second term, Mayor Dianne Feinstein called for a study on the civic center. The friends of the library seized on this and launched a major drive for the new main. At the same time, optimistic and way ahead of the voters, one of the leaders of the friends, Marjorie Stern, formed the library foundation to raise funds for furnishing a new library. Assemblyman Art Agnos, campaigning for mayor in 1987, supported the call for a new main. When elected, he strongly endorsed the ballot measure Proposition A to build it. His wife, Sherry, co-chaired the campaign. Citizens of San Francisco, in November 1988, 78% of the voters approved the building of a new main library and the completion of Civic Center. San Francisco would have a new main library for children throughout the Bay Area, but particularly you who call this neighborhood home. This building would indeed be very special. Now, on this first day for the first life of a new main library, I understand you have a very special tribute, am I right? Rise children and let your voices be heard. Thank you. Two words which belong together. I'm Steve Colter, President of the Library Commission. Imagine, we have crowd control experts here, police and barricades and thousands of people seeking to see and touch not a movie star, a singer or a king, but a new library. A city turns out to welcome an institution committed to learning and the joys of reading. The people have made a long term investment with their votes and their wallets. We are a city which believes in its future. Unlike any library in the world, this one is home to special centers reflecting the pride, culture and values of the diverse communities it serves. In this library, we see communities working together, partners in a common cause, a role model for others. There have been hundreds of heroes and heroines involved in the creation of the new main library. Some have labored for this day for nearly 40 years. Will you join me in honoring three of the founders of the Friends of the Library, people who kept their sights on this event through years of disappointment? Mary Louise Stong, McMayer and Marjorie Stern. Two special leaders of the Friends, President Ellen Hupert, Executive Director Margie O'Driscoll, the outstanding leadership team from the Library Foundation, President Jim Edgar, Executive Director Sherry Thomas. A special thanks to Hubert Hunt and Nichols, the contracting firm which built this library. Ladies and gentlemen, two people who were crucial to the success of the library bond issue and who share the dream, former Mayor Art Agnos and Sherry Agnos. The new main library, filled with natural light, where bridges lead you to knowledge, a building which cherishes the book while it embraces new technology, a special place for children, a building which is grand, yet welcoming and warm. Two great architects and two outstanding firms worked in close collaboration to create this historic library of tomorrow. I ask you to join me in honoring James Ingo Freed and Kathy Simon. We hope you find the new main library an adventure, full of magic, a place to explore, a place to learn, a new old friend, now open to all possibilities. I am Ken Dowlin, City Librarian. Today, thank you, today we open our doors. I'm extremely proud of this building that I've been working on for over eight years, perhaps all 35 years of my career. It has taken thousands of people working for years and years to get here. I'm even more proud of the tens of thousands of San Franciscans who stepped forward to ensure our success. The collaboration we have created is very powerful. We are the largest public-private partnership in the history of this city, and perhaps one of the greatest collaborations in the history of California. The standard for this project has been excellence, excellence by the architects, by the Department of Public Works, the library management, the commission, Huber Hunt and Nichols, the subcontractors, the staff, and many others. And thanks to the work of the foundation, the friends, and the voters, we had the resources and the challenge to go for excellence. The opening today signals an end for many people, the architects, the contractor, the subcontractors, but for myself, the staff, and you, this is only the beginning. We will continue to preserve our past through our archives and print collections as we are increasing our impact on today in this city through our sophisticated technologies, our people spaces. And we will continue to prepare for the future through our use of technology, our children's center, our teen center. We use all technologies to provide access to information, knowledge, and communications. In today's electronic interconnected globe, geographic and historic communities are at risk. This library is designed to value our diversity and our heritages, yet provide the communications to bring all of our communities and the city together to create shared values for the city as a whole. We now have the facility to enable us to focus on community connectivity and collaboration. Even though the computer is perhaps a nervous system of this main library, 26 branches, and the intellect comes from the collections, the heart is the library staff. And I thank you all for not just doing your jobs, but striving for excellence. Over six years ago, Kathy Simon, James Ingo Freed, Steve Kolder, Kathy Page, and I set out on this odyssey together by visiting libraries in Europe. On the flight home, we agreed we must have great architecture, we must have a world-class library, and we even talked about creating a library with a soul. Isabella Allende in the book A Free Library in the City talks about voices in the library. But it took me years to work out what would bring the soul to this building. I now understand that the soul comes from you, the people, the staff, the affinity groups, Charlotte, Mel, Marjory Stern, and many others. Today we stand ready for you. This building is designed to be not just good for books, for computers, all the technologies. It is designed, most of all, to be a building for people and for people communicating. Bring the soul to the library with your presence. Welcome, enjoy, access, discover, and be empowered through information, knowledge, learning, and the joy of reading. Today, Mr. Mayor, we are ready to lead this city into the 21st century, while providing community and cultural anchors to our past. We open our doors to open your minds. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Phil Quigley. I'm the CEO of the Pacific Telesis Group, and it's a privilege to join with you this morning. I think most of you would agree that in order to really reach our potential, be it an individual or a city or a building, like we're standing before today, you must have a compelling vision. A couple of days ago, I was fortunate enough to join Mayor Brown and many other of our city's constituents in the Economic Summit, and we talked about many things, but mostly about San Francisco being a model city, a model city from the standpoint of its social integration, model city from the standpoint of its economic development, and even its sports teams. We also talked about a new vision of San Francisco being a model for being an electronic city with a base of knowledge, with a foundation of knowledge, and I can't think of any better base than we have today standing before us of the new main library to fulfill that vision. Now, we have before us our last speaker, among many others, Ken Dowling, who wrote a book in 1984 called The Electronic Library. And just this past Monday, I was reading The New York Times, we're famous. Monday's April 15th version, headlines, in San Francisco, print books are still in style, and it's a wonderful article that talks about computers framing the whole sense of these thousands and thousands of millions of tombs and tombs of books. And it says the challenge for the San Francisco Public Library has been to provide an environment that makes sense for all of the city's communities. And what Mr. Dowling has established is a building flexible enough to house computing technologies that are routinely outdated every 18 months, but accessible enough to embody Mr. Dowling's vision of the social role of the library. Now, I represent Pacific Bell and all of the other corporate partners that we have in the city today. When I stand before you and say that we have a sense for corporate responsibility and that we know that our corporate strength derives from the community we serve, and that we must give back to that community. As we look at the ideals that we embrace individually and collectively, there are three that I think strike home here in this great celebration we're having today. The first ideal is that this new library, the new main, represents education for all. This is the largest institution in this country that offers free internet access to its youth and each and every one of you to cruise the super highway out there, the information super highway that we've heard all about. This is a monument that proves that there is not an information rich and information poor society, there is an information rich society for all of us. And just a couple of weeks ago, I recall standing next to a young boy who attends the fifth grade at Malcolm X Academy in Bayview Hunters Point. That was the first day after we had wired his school with this new wiring technology that he had a chance to internet access the internet, to access the world, if you will, to establish new relationships. I watched him cruise the internet, access to Smithsonian, access to Library of Congress, access to Lou, learn about the planets. Guess what? Jonathan Jenkins doesn't even have to leave Bayview Hunters Point to access this wonderful source of knowledge here. Granted, some day he's gonna take the muni down here and see it firsthand, but the fact of the matter is what we have here is a community of knowledge that's accessible to all regardless of where they live. The second ideal that I think we embody today is the notion of self-reliance. That if somebody has a desire and the thirst for knowledge and a sense for self-accountability and self-reliance, that those seeds can be sown right here in this wonderful environment that has been created. And third, an ideal of a partnership. All of us working together, scores of people, visionaries and people who are practitioners making this dream become a reality. I must tell you that I'm particularly proud today to follow Steve Coulter, the president of the Library Commission and also the co-chair of this event today who has worked very hard along with many others of you to make this a reality. And I can say very pridefully as a colleague in my business that I stand behind him and support him and are very proud of your efforts, Steve. Many people have been acknowledged here, Mayor Agnos, it's my great privilege at this point in time to acknowledge and introduce the man who needs no introduction, our mayor today, Mayor Willie Brown. Phil, thank you very much. This guy says, hey Willie, he's talking about maize and macove. Phil, thank you for those kind remarks and to the young people, some of whom participated in my inauguration. This is a very, very great day. I'm indeed honored to be the mayor of this city at the time that we're about to open the new main. 84 years ago, then mayor, Sonny Jim Raw, broke ground across the plaza. And what he said at that time, we will complete the Civic Center. We start with this groundbreaking and he outlined what he intended to do as a storyteller told you. Well, today I stand in the position of that mayor and the position of Mayor Jordan and the position of Mayor Agnos, Mayor Feinstein and all the preceding mayors who have in one manner or another contributed some small, some large to this effort on behalf of the people of the city and county of San Francisco. And I'm very pleased to announce this building completes the Civic Center of San Francisco. There is a book that's been done thanks to the publishing house, Weldon Owens and to a very talented author, Peter Wiley. A book has been done just as 84 years ago Silver A Stern Shovel was used to symbolize that groundbreaking. This book will commemorate and memorialize forever on behalf of the people of San Francisco as the inscription so eloquently states that this marks the completion of our library. It will be in the library for your use in the history section of our main library and it will be there for generation after generations to review the history of how it was done. And in many cases who did it, what the contributions were and unfortunately it doesn't have the names of the 17,000 citizen donors who actually paid for the interior of this structure. Ken indicated that it was the largest public, private participation in the history of the city. Albeit, although I don't have the records, my guess is it's the largest in the nation. Charlotte referenced a youngster who did seven cents. All I have you know that this was one of those real community efforts. Youngsters did cake sales, car washers, small contributions here and there. And so this main, this building, this time and this space is owned by all of us, the people of the city and county of San Francisco. And if you will kindly watch the sky to my left, you're gonna see something really interesting about to occur. And when it has occurred, something's gonna be delivered to me that will allow us to go into the library, if this all works. Not that, ladies and gentlemen, Carl Priggy, the man who just dropped in. I'm sorry that I forgot my key and you had to bring it back. Ladies and gentlemen, two messages. From the president and the first lady and invitation was extended. They could not be here because of the fact that they have to be in Japan, but they're here in spirit. The governor of the state of California and my friend sent Kevin Stardown with a message for us, wishing us well as we go about inaugurating and opening this newest of the finest institutions existing in San Francisco. Let me now, and I can take this key and it's inscribed with the words literacy. It represents the symbol of an opportunity being extended to all, to use the library. Use the library for knowledge, use the library for enjoyment, but above all else, use the main library. Let me now ask former mayor Art Agnos and Ms. Stern to please join me. Ken, Bill Quigley, Steve Coulter, please join me. To enter the library are available after the ceremony which is right about now in the tents to the left where the colored kiosks are. You must have a time ticket to enter the library. Now please be patient. There are lots of performers in the tents throughout the day. Thank you very, very much. Tickets are available right over there in the tent. For your time tickets, you must have a ticket to enter the library.