Opinion: San Diego needs all city libraries to be open seven days a week – San Diego Union-Tribune

Editor’s Note: Reposted with pleasure. I retired in 2016 from SDPL, 15 years of service to the community in various roles: Training Librarian, Government Documents, Librarian II in Science & Technology. Read please and support your Library. It’s Vital for Growth, for Education, for all the People we serve. –DrWeb

Opinion, Commentary

Opinion: San Diego needs all city libraries to be open seven days a week

By Patrick Stewart, Patrick is the CEO of the Library Foundation SD and lives in Clairemont.

PUBLISHED: February 3, 2026 at 6:00 AM PST

In his 2026 State of the City address, Mayor Todd Gloria outlined proposals and priorities for the city in the coming year. However, he notably left out the San Diego Public Library when discussing building, transforming and investing in our city.

The mayor proposed funding the city based on who we are today and how we’re moving forward tomorrow, not funding it based on where we were 30 years ago — and I agree! Sadly, the San Diego Public Library is funded too closely, in relation to the city’s general fund, to the level it was funded nearly three decades ago.

As the city demonstrates its priorities through budget allocations, I urge our leaders to recognize the San Diego Public Library as the cornerstone of public services it truly is. Libraries have long served as more than just places to borrow books.

The San Diego Public Library stands as the region’s largest provider of free cultural programming and serves as a hub for workforce development, lifelong learning, early literacy, civic engagement, and social justice. From a parent whose child relies on the Homework Center at their local library to the entrepreneur learning how to write a business plan, our libraries provide essential services that help San Diegans connect and access key resources.

Inspired and guided by community voices, the Library Foundation SD remains committed to advocating for a 37/7 system, in which all 37 library branches are open seven days a week and reflect the programming needs of our world-class city.

Each year the San Diego Public Library is visited nearly 7 million times, making the library department one of the most widely used services in the city.

San Diegans deserve and have called for a full-time library department. Just last year, thanks to thousands of voices in our community, a crucial budget adjustment was secured that restored Monday hours at 17 library locations. This partial restoration exemplifies the power of collective advocacy, and demonstrates what we can achieve when the community rallies behind the Library Department.

Being open every day of the week ensures that libraries remain important community spaces that close educational gaps, support digital equity and promote workforce readiness. Every day that one of our branches is closed, students, job seekers, families and neighbors who depend on their public library miss out on valuable opportunities.

The annual cost of restoring seven-day service across all branches is less than 0.5% of the city’s general fund — a modest investment that benefits half of all San Diego households.

Now is not the time to cut spending on spaces and services that empower residents and foster connected communities.

Throughout our 37 branches, librarians identify community needs and address problems with programming. Services offered across our branches — ranging from youth academic preparedness to workforce development, technology access, and cultural enrichment — strengthen the fabric of our communities.

If further citywide budget cuts are on the horizon, our library system’s ability to serve the community with essential programs and services will be severely threatened. After last year’s struggles, any additional reductions would have catastrophic consequences for the library’s programming capabilities.

Last year, San Diegans made it clear: “This is unacceptable.” We understand that budgeting is a challenge, but we also have a set of priorities to support, including keeping libraries open 37/7 — every location, seven days a week.

I invite all supporters of the freedom to read and the future of our city to contact your elected officials and let them know you support your library. Find your representative at sandiego.gov/contact.

Get involved in supporting public libraries by signing up for our advocacy newsletter at http://libraryfoundationsd.org/.

Patrick is the CEO of the Library Foundation SD and lives in Clairemont.

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