Budget Woes, Staff Shortages Blamed : Library Stacks Up Poorly in Survey of Cities

The San Diego Public Library system is cramped, understaffed, overworked and underbudgeted, according to a library staff report that compares it to those in nine cities of similar size.

San Diego’s library system is open fewer hours, spends less money on books and has less space than most of the other systems studied--despite being the third-largest city surveyed.

The report, comparing San Diego’s to libraries in Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, Milwaukee, Phoenix, San Antonio and San Francisco, was discussed Friday by the library’s Board of Commissioners.

“We do a fairly good job with a limited staff and materials,” said City Librarian William W. Sannwald, who referred to the San Diego library as a 7-Eleven compared to other libraries.

“People come in, and we don’t have a lot of time to spend with them,” Sannwald said. “Our book collection is extremely well-used compared with other libraries.”

Among the findings:

- San Diego’s Central Library has the second-lowest budget for books and other materials. The system has the lowest average branch library materials budget.

- The Central Library ranks ninth in square feet of space per number of people served.

- San Diego’s system has the lowest staffing levels for both the central and branch libraries. Whereas San Diego has 71.5 staff positions in the Central Library, Detroit has 300. San Diego’s branches average 3.6 staff positions, compared to Phoenix’s high of 10 per branch

- San Diego is the only system among the 10 that does not lend films and videocassettes. It is one of only four in the survey that does not offer art works on loan.

- Despite its limited facilities and a relatively long four-week loan period, San Diego ranks second in annual circulation and third in circulation per volume. Phoenix, top-ranked in circulation per volume, loans books for two weeks, and second-ranked Indianapolis has a three-week loan period.

- San Diego’s system includes 30 branches--second only to Baltimore, which has 31. But on average, San Diego’s branches have the least space of branches among the 10 cities studied.

In the library’s defense, Commissioner Arthur Brody said the report would be more realistic had it surveyed other California cities. He said they were all faced with “the same problems” of Proposition 13 and the Gann Initiative, which set limits on municipal budget processes.

Budget growth for all California cities was restricted to a limit based on their budgets in 1979. The only other California city surveyed in the poll was San Francisco. Sannwald said that, although it ranked well above San Diego, San Francisco has a long history of supporting cultural services.

Sannwald said the San Diego library system has suffered because the city was not funding cultural services at a high level in 1979. “I think the library system has made real strides the last couple of years, especially the branches and the outreach program,” he said.

The commissioners on Friday had to deal with problems at branch libraries in Logan Heights, Point Loma and Rancho Penasquitos that vividly underlined some of the report’s findings.

The Logan Heights branch, which one staffer said has not been painted in 15 years, was described as institutional and “not a welcoming place” by its former librarian, Marta-Luisa Sclar.

Its position for a librarian who speaks English and Spanish is held by a one who speaks only English. Fifty-four percent of the residents in the area served by the library speak Spanish.

Commissioners were told Rancho Penasquitos is outgrowing its temporary, 2,700-square-foot library branch. Deputy City Manager Jack McGrory said that communities the size of Rancho Penasquitos normally have libraries of 10,000 square feet.

“There’s just a lot of pressure on the community,” said Cindy Wert, a member of the Rancho Penasquitos Town Council. “These people are coming in droves . . . and the services are staying the same.”

Responding to complaints from Rancho Penasquitos residents, McGrory said the city manager’s office is recommending that the City Council move up construction of a permanent new library from 1995 to 1988 or 1990.

Gloria Tregurtha, president of the Friends of the Point Loma Branch Library, thanked the commission for acquiring a plot adjacent to the current branch in order to build a larger facility.

“We get complaints from people because we don’t have the books they want,” Tregurtha said. “We have the books, but they’re constantly out being used. This is one of the most used libraries in the city.”