Mission library still has few books available


Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare are some of the few classics that stand on the Mission Campus Library shelves. CLIVE WALKER / GUARDSMAN
Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare are some of the few classics that stand on the Mission Campus Library shelves. CLIVE WALKER / GUARDSMAN

By Sandra Gonzalez and Jean-Pierre Bitchoka
Contributing Writers

Since the Mission campus officially opened in February 2008, the campus’ library only has about 500 books available for student use which does not meet the current demand for books on campus according to Sirous Monajami, mission campus head librarian.

According to Monajami the library is currently filled to less than one percent of its total capacity of at least 100,000 books but currently carries a small amount of material for some of the classes taught at the campus: computer enrichment books, Sterlington GED preparation books, child development, ESL books, Spanish magazines and literature are among the materials the library offers.

“Frequently there aren’t enough books to be handed out at the same time, creating a conflict. Many books have been put on reserve, so more students can use them in the library,” said Monajami.
“It’s a beautiful campus, although the library needs to be finished, and then it will complete the school. Other than that, I think it’s a nice place to come to school,” said Jonathan Rodriguez, a student at the Mission campus.

“I don’t come to the Mission library a lot because I feel I won’t find the books I need or they won’t even be there. It looks like there is a small amount of books, that’s why I use the main Ocean campus library when getting books,” City College student Gloria Musto said.

Monajami says more books are on order, but it could be a long process until the books are finally on shelves. The library’s budget comes out of City College’s general fund and is not large enough to cover filling the campus’ library with books. Because of this, the campus is looking to book donations from both San Francisco’s Public Library and private individuals or organizations to fill the library’s shelves, said Monajami.

“For the future we are working on making policies that will allow the library to get money for new books for the students to use,” said Monajami.