A grand light well illuminates SF's favorite subjects: poetry in the Robert Frost Collection, civil rights in the Hormel LGBTQIA Center, SF music zines in the Little Maga/Zine Center and comic relief in the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit and Humor. Check out the wallpaper made from the old card catalog on the 3rd to 5th floors – artists Ann Chamberlain and Ann Hamilton invited 200 San Franciscans to add multilingual commentary to 50,000 cards.
The library quietly hosts high-profile basement lectures, plus enlightening Skylight Gallery ephemera exhibits.