J. Paul Leonard Library
The main academic library of San Francisco State University, serving enrolled students, faculty, and staff with physical and digital collections, research assistance, study spaces, and an institutional repository as part of the California State University system.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What J. Paul Leonard Library does
J. Paul Leonard Library is the main academic library of San Francisco State University (SFSU), a public institution within the 23-campus California State University system. The library serves the SFSU community — undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff — providing physical and digital access to scholarly resources, research assistance, instructional support, study spaces, and equipment lending. Core user segments are SFSU students (primary), SFSU faculty, and SFSU staff, with limited external and interlibrary-loan access for non-affiliated users.
The library's product surface is built on a stack of integrated systems rather than a single platform. OneSearch (powered by Ex Libris Primo) serves as the unified discovery layer across articles, books, media, and course reserves. ScholarWorks functions as the institutional repository for SFSU theses, dissertations, and faculty scholarship, and CSU Open Journals extends this to systemwide open-access publishing. Special Collections & Archives — including the Labor Archives and Research Center, the Bay Area Television Archive, the Frank V. de Bellis Italian American Collection, and the SFSU university archives — constitute unique, non-replicable content assets. Supporting infrastructure includes the Library Retrieval System (LRS) for automated physical-material retrieval, a Digital Media Studio & MakerSpace, equipment checkout (laptops, cameras, digital media tools), and integrations with course reserves and the LMS.
The business model is non-commercial public funding: services are financed through SFSU's institutional budget, state appropriations, and student fees, with no direct cost to enrolled students, faculty, or staff. External users and interlibrary loan services may carry fees or operate on reciprocal arrangements. There are no venture, private equity, or external ownership structures involved. Strategic content and platform access are secured through consortium partnerships — CSU Systemwide Digital Library Content (SDLC), the CSU+ resource-sharing network, RapidILL for rapid article delivery, and vendor relationships with ProQuest, EBSCO, and Elsevier. The library also operates as a federal and California state depository library.
J. Paul Leonard Library firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- J. Paul Leonard Library
- Legal name
- J. Paul Leonard Library
- Website
- https://library.sfsu.edu
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- The main academic library of San Francisco State University, serving enrolled students, faculty, and staff with physical and digital collections, research assistance, study spaces, and an institutional repository as part of the California State University system.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
J. Paul Leonard Library industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Academic Library Services
- NAICS
- Libraries and Archives (519210)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Academic & Research Library Operations (College/University Libraries) (EDAEAGAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Digital Library & Electronic Resources Operations (e-Resources, Repositories, Licensing) (EDAEAGAF), Library User Services & Information Support (Reference, Research Help, Instruction Support) (EDAEAGAL), Libraries, Archives & Special Collections (BPAGAHAF)
Keywords
Where J. Paul Leonard Library is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
J. Paul Leonard Library business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- University Library Services: As a public university library, services are funded through a combination of state university funding, student fees, and institutional budgets. Core services are provided at no direct cost to enrolled students, faculty, and staff.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | SF State community (students, faculty, staff) |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | External/community users |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
J. Paul Leonard Library product offering
Product offeringCore offering
J. Paul Leonard Library provides academic library services to the San Francisco State University community, encompassing access to physical and digital collections, research assistance, study and collaborative spaces, course reserves, interlibrary loan, equipment checkout, and a Digital Media Studio & MakerSpace. Core digital platforms include OneSearch (Ex Libris Primo discovery), ScholarWorks institutional repository, CSU Open Journals, and Special Collections & Archives. Services are funded through institutional budget and provided at no direct cost to enrolled students, faculty, and staff.
Product overview
J. Paul Leonard Library is a unified academic library service offering physical and digital resource access. Its core offerings include OneSearch (the primary discovery system for catalog and database searching), institutional repositories (ScholarWorks, CSU Open Journals, theses/dissertations), Special Collections & Archives, and Digital Services. The library provides user services including Research Help, Ask a Librarian reference assistance, Interlibrary Loan, Course Reserves, Equipment Checkout, and a Digital Media Studio & MakerSpace. The database collection spans over 100 discipline-specific research tools covering humanities, sciences, social sciences, business, law, and more.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- OneSearch A unified discovery system enabling users to search across the library's collections, including articles, books, media, and course reserves through a single search interface powered by Ex Libris Primo.
- Special Collections & Archives Unique and rare materials including historical documents, manuscripts, photographs, and institutional records preserved for research purposes, including the Labor Archives and Research Center, Bay Area Television Archive, Frank V. de Bellis Collection, and university archives.
- ScholarWorks Institutional Repository Digital repository preserving and providing open access to San Francisco State University's scholarly output including theses, dissertations, and faculty research.
- Masters Theses and Ed.D Dissertations Collection Collection of master's theses and doctoral dissertations completed at San Francisco State University, available digitally through ScholarWorks.
- Research Help Services Research assistance including chat, email, one-on-one appointments, subject-specific guides, tutorials, and FAQs.
- Ask a Librarian Real-time research assistance through chat, email, and scheduled appointments with subject librarians.
- Interlibrary Loan / CSU+ Service enabling borrowing of materials from other libraries and consortium participation for expanded resource access.
- Equipment Checkout Loan of technology equipment including laptops, cameras, and other digital media tools to students and faculty.
- Digital Media Studio & MakerSpace Technology-equipped space for multimedia creation, prototyping, and collaborative making activities.
- Course Reserves Materials designated by instructors for short-term loans supporting specific courses.
- Databases (A-Z) Over 100 research databases spanning all academic disciplines, including JSTOR, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and discipline-specific resources.
- CSU Open Journals Open access journal hosting service provided through the California State University system for scholarly publishing.
- Digital Services & Collections Digitized materials, online exhibitions, and digital scholarship resources accessible remotely.
Companies that use J. Paul Leonard Library
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles3 records
J. Paul Leonard Library technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
J. Paul Leonard Library partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- California State University Systemwide Digital Library Content (SDLC)coreCollaborative purchasing and access to systemwide licensed digital resources including journals, databases, and ebooks across all 23 CSU campuses
- U.S. Government Publishing Office (Federal Depository Library Program)coreParticipates as a federal documents depository providing public access to government publications per Title 44 U.S. Code
- California State LibrarycoreParticipates as a California State Depository Library with selective access to state government publications
- Sutro Library (California State Library)minorRegional library partnership providing access to Sutro Library collections and services at 1630 Holloway Ave
- ProQuest (Dissertations & Theses Global)coreProvides access to dissertation and thesis database including full-text access to millions of graduate works worldwide
- EBSCO Information ServicescoreProvides access to Academic Search Ultimate, Business Source Ultimate, and numerous subject-specific databases
- Elsevier (ScienceDirect)coreProvides access to ScienceDirect full-text journals and ebooks in science, health, and social sciences disciplines
- RapidILLcoreRapid interlibrary loan article delivery service enabling fast access to materials from partner libraries
- Disability Programs and Resource Center (SF State)coreCollaboration to ensure library materials and technology are accessible to students with disabilities
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
J. Paul Leonard Library competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Stanford Libraries: The library system of Stanford University serving a major research university in the Bay Area. Comparable in scale, digital repository infrastructure, special collections emphasis, and proximity to J. Paul Leonard's user community.
- San Jose State University Library: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library at San Jose State University, a fellow CSU campus library. Highly comparable in mission, CSU-systemwide digital content access, and service mix for a similar undergraduate/graduate student population.
- UC Berkeley Library: The main library system of the University of California, Berkeley, also a California-based public research university. Directly comparable as an academic & research library serving a large public-university population with digital repositories, special collections, and government depository holdings.
- UCLA Library: Library system of the University of California, Los Angeles. Closely comparable as a large California public-university research library with extensive digital collections, special collections, and system-level consortial access.
- UC Davis Library: University Library of the University of California, Davis. Comparable as another California public-university research library with similar digital repository, government depository, and interlibrary-loan service profiles.
- Cal Poly Humboldt Library: Another CSU campus library sharing SDLC, CSU+, and systemwide digital resource agreements. Directly comparable as an academic library within the same California State University governance structure.
Broad incumbents
- Internet Archive: A nonprofit digital library offering extensive digitized collections globally. Comparable as a digital library and special-collections repository, though operating at vastly larger scale and as an external organization rather than a campus library.
- Library of Congress: The national library of the United States and the apex federal depository library. Comparable in mission and government-depository role, though operating at the federal level rather than as a campus library.
Others
- OCLC: A library services cooperative that underpins cataloging, resource-sharing, and discovery infrastructure across academic libraries. Comparable as the back-end infrastructure provider (WorldCat, interlibrary loan) used by J. Paul Leonard and similar libraries.
Emerging players
- HathiTrust: A large-scale collaborative digital preservation repository shared among academic and research libraries. Comparable as a digital-library infrastructure that complements and sometimes substitutes for individual university library collections.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
J. Paul Leonard Library social profiles
Digital presenceJ. Paul Leonard Library financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
J. Paul Leonard Library leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
J. Paul Leonard Library funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
J. Paul Leonard Library M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about J. Paul Leonard Library
What does J. Paul Leonard Library do?
J. Paul Leonard Library provides academic library services to the San Francisco State University community, encompassing access to physical and digital collections, research assistance, study and collaborative spaces, course reserves, interlibrary loan, equipment checkout, and a Digital Media Studio & MakerSpace. Core digital platforms include OneSearch (Ex Libris Primo discovery), ScholarWorks institutional repository, CSU Open Journals, and Special Collections & Archives. Services are funded through institutional budget and provided at no direct cost to enrolled students, faculty, and staff.
Is J. Paul Leonard Library a public or private company?
J. Paul Leonard Library is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was J. Paul Leonard Library founded?
J. Paul Leonard Library was founded in -1. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is J. Paul Leonard Library based?
J. Paul Leonard Library is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does J. Paul Leonard Library make money?
One revenue line is on record: university Library Services.
Who are J. Paul Leonard Library's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Stanford Libraries, San Jose State University Library, UC Berkeley Library, UCLA Library, UC Davis Library and Cal Poly Humboldt Library. Broad incumbents are Internet Archive and Library of Congress. OCLC is listed as an others. HathiTrust is listed as an emerging player.
Does J. Paul Leonard Library have an API?
No public API is recorded for J. Paul Leonard Library.
What industry is J. Paul Leonard Library in?
J. Paul Leonard Library's product category is Academic Library Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAEAGAB, Academic & Research Library Operations (College/University Libraries), with a secondary code of EDAEAGAF, Digital Library & Electronic Resources Operations (e-Resources, Repositories, Licensing). Its NAICS code is 519210 and its SIC code is 8200.