Library Patrons Lobby for Its Reopening

Patrons of a small county library that was closed after a March 23 fire are campaigning to have it reopened as soon as possible after learning that the library may be permanently closed.

Members of the Friends of the Charter Oak Library voted last week to launch a letter-writing campaign urging library officials and Supervisor Pete Schabarum to reopen the facility. They plan to enlist the help of local schools in their campaign.

The fate of the Charter Oak Library, nestled behind a liquor store on Arrow Highway, in an unincorporated area near Covina, is now in limbo as county library officials assess the damage.

“We’ll do whatever’s necessary to bring our library back,” said Mary Robinette president of Friends of the Charter Oak Library. “And we want as large a library as we had before.”

Schabarum has discussed the possible closure with county library officials, but has made no final decision, said his spokeswoman, Judy Hammond. The supervisor was out of town and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. She said another meeting will be scheduled after he returns today.

The library has been closed since the early morning blaze, which fire officials said was triggered by a short in a fluorescent ceiling light. It caused about $50,000 in structural damage, including a gaping hole in the roof, as it swept through the single-story building.

Library officials estimated content damage at $135,000 or more. At least 6,100 books were destroyed, and the count may climb as library employees sift through the remains of the nearly 29,000 volumes in the collection. Also lost were most of the 1,166-title audio tape selection and new computer terminals, installed less than two months earlier to link the library to the main system in Los Angeles.

“We’re working as fast as we can to make a decision about reopening the library,” said Phil Fleming, marketing director for the County of Los Angeles Public Library.

“It’s an active library,” he said, noting that the 3,000-square-foot facility’s total circulation from July to September was close to 15,000. “Obviously the heart of the staff feels we want (the library) to stay open.” There are about 1,300 residents in the library’s service area, County Librarian Sandra Reuben said in a memorandum.

Once the final damage estimates are in, library officials will evaluate the cost of replacing lost materials, and assess whether the library can continue using the building, Fleming said. Whatever the library management recommends, Schabarum would have the final word, he added.

Residents, meanwhile, are trying to influence his decision. Friends of the Library voted last week to launch the letter-writing campaign after an urgent evening meeting in Robinette’s home. They mailed a special newsletter about the fire to about 50 regular patrons over the weekend, and plan to enlist the help of local schools in the lobbying effort.

Hilda Holinstat, a member of the group, has started a petition drive in her neighborhood. She said she has collected 16 signatures “asking (Schabarum) to do anything he can to get the library back.”

Slide programs and children’s story hours, crafts classes and summer reading programs are at stake, said Holinstat, who calls the library “an unsurpassed tool toward better education and a beacon of service to the community.”

Since the fire, the green, wood-and-stucco building has remained boarded up, with signs directing patrons to the larger San Dimas Library, a county facility about three miles away. San Dimas library officials estimate that about 200 Charter Oak patrons a week have been using the facility.

But Robinette said seniors and youths who walked to Charter Oak may have trouble finding transportation to the San Dimas branch. Rather than travel the extra miles, the Friends’ book review club now holds sessions at members’ homes.

“Three miles is too much,” Robinette said.

Selma Allen, 64, founded Friends of the Charter Oak Library in 1978 with her husband, Ralph, to support the library in the face of reduced funding after Proposition 13.

She said the group’s donations of about $5,000 a year, mostly in books, have helped the library’s collection grow.

“I fought to keep it going,” Allen said. “We’re going to fight like hell to get it back.”