San Franciscans love to gripe about all the ways City Hall fails us — and, yes, there are plenty — but every once in a while, it’s important to praise a department that’s actually working.

Perhaps my favorite city department is the San Francisco Public Library, and apparently a lot of our residents agree. In city surveys, it scores better than any other department — a B-plus compared with, for example, a B for 311 and a B-minus for Muni.

The Main Library and 27 branches have expanded their hours and are now open seven days a week. They have Drag Queen Story Hour. They’re poised to wipe out $1.57 million in overdue fines in the hope of bringing people back to the libraries who’ve been avoiding them because they can’t pay their debts.

Last year, Library Journal named it the best library in the nation. Author Dave Eggers said of the library, “Contrary to some large institutions ... which have the alacrity of a cruise ship, the SFPL is nimble, creative and always inclined to find a way to make things happen.”

Those words have never in the history of San Francisco been used for any other government agency, I assure you.

So when Mayor London Breed last month named Michael Lambert the new city librarian to replace Luis Herrera, who retired, I was curious to meet the person charged with leading this nimble, creative department.

He certainly defies the stereotype of a librarian. He’s a 44-year-old Palo Alto resident who lives with his 15-year-old son. He runs 5 miles every day and lifts weights every other day. He was a competitive skateboarder who during the summer after eighth grade visited San Francisco and skateboarded down the curvy part of Lombard Street. (And if my boys ever do that, I will kill them.)

“I would love to do that again someday,” Lambert said with a grin.

Lambert is the first Asian American leader of the city’s public library system. He was born in Seoul to a Korean woman and an American soldier. His father died on active duty, and his mother took him to Columbia, S.C., to live with his paternal grandparents when he was 8 months old. She stayed only a few months before returning to Korea.

“I think it was hard for her in 1975 as a 19-year-old, full Korean woman to be in the South at that time,” Lambert said. “She knew I would have a better life here.”

He and his mother wrote letters until he was in third grade. That’s when she stopped writing with no explanation. They eventually reconnected when he was 27.

Lambert, who has worked in San Francisco’s libraries for five years, visited The Chronicle to discuss his plans for the department. Answers have been edited for clarity and length. To hear our whole conversation, listen to the latest episode of the San Francisco City Insider podcast at sfchronicle.com/insider.

Q: I read about an impactful meeting the library staff had the day after Donald Trump was elected president. Can you tell me what came out of it?

A: We have a group called the Future of the Library Forum, and it just so happened that we had our regularly scheduled meeting that Wednesday morning. It was evident the staff was really hurting.

We threw out the agenda we had that day, and we had a profound conversation about how could we as an organization be more inclusive. That meeting gave birth to our “All Are Welcome” initiative. We’ve been offering pro bono, one-on-one legal assistance for immigrants on a wide range of topics, “Know Your Rights” workshops, “How to Secure Citizenship” workshops. If you go to any of our library locations, you will see a sign prominently displayed, “All Are Welcome.”

Q: The Library Commission has voted to become fine-free this fall and to forgive those existing fines as well. Can you explain how that’s going to work and why it’s important?

A: Everyone incurs overdue fines. But when we looked more closely at the data, what we found is the impact of overdue fines disproportionately impacts communities of color and communities that are on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. Just to put that in perspective, 11 percent of our patrons in the Bayview, for example, currently have their cards blocked, and we want to change that. It’s antithetical to our mission.

Q: Will people still be told, “You have three weeks to return this book,” but nothing happens if they don’t?

A: We still want our books back. We’re going to increase the noticing, and we’re going to set up an automated renewal system so if you check out a book and nobody’s waiting for it, it will automatically renew itself. We’re also going to look at increasing the amount of time people can have a book and the number of renewals you can have. But at the end of the day, if you don’t bring the book back, you’re still going to be charged to replace it.

Q: The San Francisco library was the first in the country to hire a social worker, but there are still issues related to homelessness and drug use inside the Main Library and just outside it. How do you balance the needs of homeless people and drug users to use the libraries — especially the bathrooms — while also keeping the libraries clean and safe for everybody else?

A: Our staff are mission-driven, and they welcome everybody. That being said, we recognize there are challenges in the community. We have a team of health and safety associates who are themselves individuals who were formerly experiencing homelessness, and that team allows us to engage with individuals experiencing homelessness who are using the library in a very discreet, compassionate manner.

Lava Mae is one of our greatest partners. They park every Tuesday on the Fulton Street side of the library and offer free showers. We have another partnership with Hunters Point Family, and we’re piloting having restroom attendants at the Main Library. We have seen the number of security incidents at the Main Library decline, so we are doing much better than we have in the past.

Q: Should the city expect any changes under your leadership?

A: The San Francisco Public Library is thriving. My purpose is to make sure it stays that way. We’re renovating the Mission branch; we’re looking at providing better service for the Ocean View neighborhood, whether it’s a renovation or possibly a new library. We’re also going to be renovating the Chinatown library. We’re very excited about the future.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf