Books
Ignacio : The USF Library’s catalog, Ignacio, is a listing of all of the books we own and all of the periodicals to which we subscribe. You may not find many books on specific neighborhoods, but books about SF may have chapters on different neighborhoods. Also, you can access LINK+ from Ignacio, which lets you borrow books from other libraries.
Sample San Francisco searches in Ignacio:
- For specific titles, do a Title Search: Reclaiming San Francisco
- For topics, do a Keyword or Subject Search: Coit Tower, Haight Ashbury, Murals
- To view subtopics on San Francisco, do a Subject Search on San Francisco to see subjects like San Francisco African Americans, San Francisco Architecture, San Francisco Working Class, San Francisco Labor Movement and others.
Selected Books in Gleeson Library (all can be found in the Reference Area, First Floor):
- The Sourcebook of Zip Code Demographics: Ref. HA 203 S66 2003. Has information organized by zip code, including median income, population, racial breakdown, projected spending.
- The Thomas Guide: Metropolitan Bay Area: Ref G 1528 S35 T45 2001 (at the Reference Desk). Use for finding the zip code or codes that best match your neighborhood.
- San Francisco: The Ultimate Guide: Ref F 869.37 D44 1989. Contains great historical information for many neighborhoods.
Newspapers, Magazines, and Journals
LexisNexis Academic is a database that has the full text of many newspapers, including the SF Chronicle and the SF Examiner up until the Hearst Corporation sold it. It also has the full text of the SF Weekly. In the Power Search, you can limit to specific publications, like the SF Chronicle, or to California sources.
Most of our other full text databases are national in scope, not local, so you may not find too much on specific SF neighborhoods. Note: Some neighborhoods and local groups have their own newspapers, such as the Noe Valley Voice. Local branches of the SFPL may have copies of them. Some of the newspapers also have websites.
San Francisco Public Library (SFPL)
- SFPL Homepage
- Neighborhood Branches Neighborhood branches may have local papers and community information files. They might collect information on the history or current conditions of the neighborhood.
- SFPL Catalog Books, videos, etc. available at the San Francisco Public Library
- San Francisco Community Services Directory Information about social service organizations in the neighborhoods. (Please note that this directory is maintained for historical reference only. No records have been updated since March 2009.)
- San Francisco Statistics Links to San Francisco statistics, including crime rates, demographic data, economic, housing, historical data and more.
- San Francisco Historical Photographs Collection A database of old photographs of San Francisco, to give you a visual sense of how neighborhoods have changed. See also Old S.F. for an alternative way of browsing this collection of photographs.
Web Sites
