Visit Our Library

Here is a quick glimpse of what you can find on each floor of our library. For more detailed information about specific programs, services, hours and locations, please visit the library website.

Walk Through Facts

1st Floor

• Open, vertically spacious lobby—all floors will be visible from the entrance
• Welcome desk
• Children’s Library
• 5 times larger than former area
• 200% increase in collection capacity
• 18 computer stations
• Storytime amphitheatre
• Outdoor courtyard
• New books area
• Friends of the Library Book Sale area
• Group study rooms 2
• Self-serve Express Check-Out Stations

Mezzanine Level

• Glass tree house ambiance encircled by the majestic Redwood trees on 3rd Ave
• Kenneth & Sherrilyn Fisher Journalism Center
• Current magazines & newspapers

2nd Floor

• Information Services
• Grand reading room with seating for 50
• Quiet study room with seating for 15
• Study room
• Franklin Templeton Investments Business Center
• Premiere Business Collection in a public library throughout the Peninsula
• Resources for small businesses
• Full-time Business Librarian
• Info Seekers Student Research Center
• Joint school & library partnership with San Mateo Foster City School District:  Will teach 4th and 5th graders and their parents how to use the Library print & electronic resources; research; evaluate information
• Job Seekers:
• Volunteer based service to help connect job hunters with the Library’s resources.
• Genentech Foundation Biotechnology Learning Center
• A dynamic learning environment in the areas of life sciences and technology
• An endowment fund will be established to support a Life Science Librarian; series of seminars and workshops; expanding the library’s materials including online databases and electronic formats.

3rd Floor

• Teen Lounge
• 100% increase in collection capacity
• Unique teen oriented space, furniture, collections
• Group study rooms: 7
• Multimedia collections: CDs, DVDs, recorded books
• Alex’s Café
• World Languages Collection: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Farsi, French
• Computer training lab with seating for 26
• Project Read Literacy Center
• Library Board Conference Room
• Library Administrative Office
• San Mateo Public Library Foundation Offices