Leon the Giraffe at San Mateo’s Central Park

 “So while the world can sometimes be a hectic place, Leon the Giraffe offers his quiet, steady presence as a reminder of the singular power of just standing still.”

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Did you know “The Jewel of Burlingame” is the Burlingame library? It’s exterior — Italian Renaissance — and its arts and crafts inspired interior houses study rooms, a tech lab and café, is as functional as it is beautiful. So says Punch Magazine which also included information on Leon the Giraffe.

I was searching for a book at the San Mateo Main Library but it was only available in Burlingame. As a supporter of San Mateo’s Main Library — it was built when I was on the City Council — I was concerned about the library’s inventory. I wrote to then City Librarian James Moore and he explained that most if not all of the Peninsula libraries are too small to house full collections so they share the burden. The book you want could be in San Bruno or Redwood City.

I asked how books were selected.  His reply is long but interesting so I quote him at length:  “The librarians are directly responsible for books/materials selection and managing the weeding process which must occur continuously to make room for new items. They possess advanced degrees in librarianship and many years of experience which qualify them to handle this duty.

The collection is continuously reviewed by the professional librarians responsible for their respective sections. They always seek a balance of classic, canonical and new items. Their decisions are based on variety of metrics that include, among other things, trusted review sources, community interest/circulation statistics, and their own well-informed professional judgment.

Given that our library system is relatively small and most of our neighboring library systems are also quite small, no single one of us can carry all of the specific items that our individual patrons may want. Instead we provide shared access to all our collections amongst all our patrons. Burlingame (or one of the eight other Peninsula Libraries) will carry some items that we do not carry (and vice versa) but that any SMPL patron can order items from them or the other Peninsula libraries (or beyond) using our website, calling in, or getting direct help at one of our locations.

We do provide multiple ways for our patrons to suggest specific items be added to our collection, but I cannot guarantee that any specific item will be added because that decision depends on multiple factors, one of them is if the item is currently available at one our Peninsula Library partners and can simply be shipped here in a day or two for pickup by the patron.

We are a part of the Peninsula Library System (PLS) consortium which includes us, Burlingame, Redwood City, Daly City, San Bruno, the three colleges of the San Mateo Community College District, the San Mateo County Library system and South San Francisco. This means that inside of just having access to the 250K+ physical items we have onsite (over 1 million items if you include our e-library), or patrons also have access to millions of items through our PLS partnership and millions more through our subscription to the LINK+ system which allows the borrowing of materials from most libraries throughout California and Nevada.

In short, limited shelf space means that there are certainly some books and materials that we cannot carry here onsite, but it is very rare for us to be unable to get the desired book for you from one of partners.”

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Disturbing news from the San Mateo Union High School District about trustees considering censuring a fellow member. Listening and responding to parents’ concerns is part of the job. Since when does it lead to censure? The high school district is one of the finest in the state. It needs a board of the same quality.

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs Mondays. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.