San Fernando Facility to Get More Books : Tiny Library Moving to Spacious Home

Since they were in kindergarten, Elena Hernandez and her friend Maricela Torres, both 11, have been coming to the tiny San Fernando Library daily to do their homework.

“We like reading,” Elena explained.

They are excited, they say, about the library’s move next week to a much bigger building just a block from their sixth-grade classrooms at Morningside Elementary School.

The prospect of more than twice as much space, new books, and state-of-the-art computer equipment was welcomed by patrons and especially by library employees, who daily negotiate the narrow aisles with wobbly, book-laden carts, dodging stacked bookshelves.

“It’ll be nice not to have to say ‘Excuse me, I’ve got to squeeze through,’ all the time,” said Michelle Brown, 22, who shelves books at the MacNeil Street library.

The cozy neighborhood library, one of the smallest in the county, will begin moving next weekend to new quarters on aptly named Library Street.

Some patrons are already feeling nostalgic for its cozy 2,700-square-foot surroundings.

“I love this library” said Thelma Klostermann, who has spent many hours in the library over the past 35 years. “It has a small-town feeling and a friendliness.”

But, she continued, “I think it’s wonderful that we’ll have a bigger facility and parking. The library has been sort of a stepchild of the system for many years.”

The new 6,500-square-foot library will have a large children’s wing, a special section for teen-agers and another large area that will house the library’s 4,000 Spanish books, magazines and newspapers.

Gone will be the tables extending into walkways, sighed librarian Azar Mazrati. Her eyes light up as she thinks about having a reference desk and an expanded children’s reading area.

“It was real difficult to have story time here. We always had to move the furniture,” Mazrati said.

The library will begin moving its 45,000 books next Saturday and will be closed for three weeks so workers can spruce it up for its opening and dedication Sept. 10.

“It’s going to be wonderful,” Brown said. “We’re not going to be outdated anymore.”