Funding for Libraries

As a former librarian in Northern California, your two articles on public libraries (Part A, March 12) brought back some unhappy memories.

For eight years I managed a branch library serving a population of 30,000 in Butte County. When I started in 1978, I turned in 13 time cards including regular staff, CETA workers, and part-time help. When I left in 1986, one step ahead of being laid off, my branch was down to 3 staff and 25 volunteers. Now, apparently, all libraries in Butte County are mothballed. Your article does not delve into the causes of the great disparity between library services in the rural counties and the urban areas of this state. I see two basic problems:

1. Most libraries in rural areas are county libraries and county governments have been affected most by Proposition 13. Municipalities are relatively well-off because they rely on the sales tax and not the property tax.

2. The post-Proposition 13 bailout by the state favored the spendthrift urban counties to the detriment of the historically parsimonious rural counties. Butte County, for example, since 1978 has almost always received less per capita from the state than any other county.

Until our state government provides adequate funding for all county governments, rural or urban, there will continue to be “have” and “have-not” public libraries in California.

ALLAN OCHS

Burbank