Believe it or not, just seven years ago the Urban School of San Francisco had no library. Yes, the classrooms had books as part of a satellite library system. The space currently called "the Old Library” had shelves with encyclopedias, dictionaries and other books, but most of this collection was in storage from 1992 to 1994.

Buried in the memories of pioneer faculty are stories of the history of the library as it existed on Washington Street, through its move to Page Street, and into the current third floor Herbst Library. Urban School began life on Washington Street in 1966. There was a library and a librarian from 1968 to about 1970. The first Urban library was a modular unit lifted by a huge derrick into the courtyard of the school on Washington Street. The unit included a lab in the back and an open room library, which science teacher Allan Ridley remembers as 20 feet wider than the size of the front room of the current library.

Laura Weber directing the Madrigal Singers Library room on Washington Street.

History teacher Dan Murphy regaled me with stories of George Anang, the first librarian of Urban. A charismatic figure from Indonesia, George was hired around 1968, the second or third year of the Urban School. Allan Ridley remembers George as "a wonderful guy who had a mission" to turn people on to literature in such a way that students thought they had discovered books themselves. George knew which students hung out at which library table and would selectively place the appropriate “discovery” on that table. Major discussions and debates ensued.

The library, the largest inside space of the Washington Street campus, became the site of all-school meetings where rules and procedures were proposed and debated. Some discussions involved the organization of the library. True to the character of Urban, the students suggested that books be arranged by size and color to overturn the oppressiveness of the Dewey Decimal system. George listened but selectedthe Library of Congress classification system, an unusual choice for a high school library.

George Anang
At his desk in the Washington Street Library.	Taking part in a school production.

George made the library the center of the school. He solicited ideas and help from students, brought in his own collection of books to share, and sought book donations that supported the classroom curriculum. Allan Ridley, who occupied the lab located behind the library in the modular unit, fondly remembers George and his library groupies. George viewed himself as a teacher and encouraged book discussions (or debates) in the library. Again, true to the nature of the Urban student, these discussions began to include food and lunches. The library became the place to eat lunch and hangout. I now understand why, when I accepted the Library position in 1994, the first "rule" Mark Salkind required that I enforce was "There will be no eating or drinking in the library."

Allan Ridley, seated in chair at right, leads discussion Washington Street Library room. Note the almost empty bookshelves. Picture taken about 1969.

George made the library the center of the school. He solicited ideas and help from students, shared his own collection of books and sought book donations that supported the classroom curriculum. Allan Ridley, who occupied the lab located behind the library in the modular unit, fondly remembers George and his library groupies. George viewed himself as a teacher and encouraged book discussions or debates in the library. Again, true to the nature of Urban , these discussions began to include lunches. I now understand why, when I accepted the Library position in 1994, the first "rule" Mark Salkind required that I enforce was "There will be no eating or drinking in the library."

The need to add classrooms for the increasing student population caused the library room to become two classrooms. George went back to Indonesia, leaving books behind. Dan Murphy told of letters from George asking, "Where are my books? Send me my books.” Apparently, George, like many of the Urban teachers who lived in small spaces, stored his own books at the school.

Without George, described by Allan as "the glue that kept the library together," and because of limited funds, the central library all but disappeared. The books were shifted into classrooms to become departmental, class or "satellite libraries," a phrase which Dan Murphy recalls as originating during the Henry Mayer administration (1976-1978). The advantages of these “satellite libraries,” which provided teachers and students with easy access to that special quotation or illustration, became a “selling point” for admissions. However, history teacher LeRoy Votto believes that the lack of a “real” library caused many parents to view Urban as a less serious school. According to former science teacher John Hall, "In reality, the satellites only worked in history and marginally in English. Other teachers had books in their rooms but it was not organized in a way that anyone knew what was what except the teacher who had accumulated it." LeRoy said research papers were nearly impossible without a central library.

Once the school moved to Page Street in 1976, the need to survive made a library a low priority. Limited funds tended to govern choices. Research existed but was more informal than that required for the standard high school term paper. Students researched in departmental books, not encyclopedias or traditional library books and, as Dan and Allan believe, probably gained much from this experience. The philosophy of depth over breadth ruled at Urban, as it still does.

An ongoing debate existed among the faculty, the students, and the board about the need for a central library. What is a library? What should the library be? How should the library relate to classes? Does Urban need a library? What should be the vision for an Urban library? Jonathan Howland, who joined the English faculty in 1988, mentioned that little contention existed about the need for a library by the time the school started to plan for the addition in the Master Plan of 1990. The mission to instill in students a life-long love of learning infused the vision for the new central library. General agreement has always existed that Urban students should use the resources in the community and that any school library books should supplement classroom teaching.

The Old Library on Page Street
Students and LeRoy Votto in Old Library Old Library of Page Street. (1981)	Page Street (1991) Hanging dragon metal sculpture created by students of Grant Ditzler, husband of Frances Evens.
Allan Ridley seated in his "office," (1988) [Note library card catalog behind him.]	Debra Heimdinger, Photography teacher, in a corner of the Old Library (1988) [Note disarray of library shelves.]

A book collection (in what is now called the Old Library) existed at the Page Street campus but was not well organized. When the school moved to Page Street, the library books and black metal shelves moved with it. Allan Ridley and former biology teacher Franny Coopersmith established the system of departmental libraries. The history department kept its own library stored in classrooms or in backpacks. Kathy Munger, the wife of Carl Munger, who served as the Director from 1980 to 1986, "nursed the library" and its scanty holdings. LeRoy remembers the library as just shelves where books were stored. Since checkout operated on an honor system, Allan recalls a chaotic space with some books missing and others piled in corners. To Dan, it was a "library on hold." The old library collection was in such disarray by 1992 that Susan Munn, Director of Finance and Operations, packed it away while the new library was planned.

Librarian Kathy Munger, wife of Director Carl Munger	Kathryn Gilsen, school secretary in Old Library (1970).	Unidentified student in Old Library (1982)

A requirement of the WASC review of the school in 1988 proved to be the major impetus for the establishment of a library committee which, with the help of outside consultants, brought to fruition the current Herbst Library with a full-time librarian. As former art teacher Stephen Thomas pointed out, the basic question was "how can we be a viable school without a library? So we made it a priority in the long range planning process…and then found that we could actually raise money for it." John Hall noted, “…in some ways, the conversations about the library’s needs encouraged us to think about the whole school’s needs.” Susan Munn added that technology was a turning point in the vision for the library, and technological competence became an important qualification in the search for the librarian. Stephen Thomas was a key visionary for the use of technology and computers in the proposed library. He foresaw that technology would allow wide access even in a small space. The architectural firm Simon, Martin-Vegue, Winkelstein & Moris designed the space that became the Herbst Library. The Herbst Foundation, a major donor for the purchase of the 1545 Page Street building, again provided a major contribution for the new building that included the central library.

Such advances in technology as automated library catalogs, CD-ROM databases of periodicals and the nascent Internet offered the possibility that the library could bring the world to the third floor and be an airy light-filled room for people, not just for books. LeRoy desired a "sacred, quiet space dedicated to learning and research" and believes that the Herbst Library has fulfilled that promise for Urban.

Dan Murphy encapsulated the views of the faculty when he said the current library is "the vision of what we wanted but didn't know how to develop."

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Thanks to Joana Bryar-Matons (P), Frances Evens, Kathryn Gilsen, John Hall (FLC), Jonathan Howland, Kathleen Huntington (FLC), Susan Munn, Dan Murphy (P), Henri Picciotto, Louise Quennville, Allan Ridley (P), Stephen Thomas (FLC), LeRoy Votto (FLC), Elizabeth Wade, and Igor Zagatsky
for their contributions to this article.

P = Pioneer faculty member who joined Urban School before 1968

FLC = Member of Faculty Library Committee, established in 1988 to plan and develop the Herbst Library and to select its librarian.