Volunteers Sought to Staff Libraries at 4 High Schools : Education: Helpers would enable the facilities, which had to cut back on employees, to keep longer hours.

In an attempt to overcome school library budget cuts, the city’s Chamber of Commerce is soliciting volunteers to staff public high school libraries so they could remain open after school.

The chamber program comes after the Santa Ana Unified School District lost $14 million this year from its share of state education money, resulting in reduced hours and staffing levels. Staff cuts left only one paid staff member in each of the four school libraries.

“Now is the time for the community to help itself. . . . These kids want to educate themselves,” said Bob Spencer, the chamber’s program coordinator.

Santa Ana has three public libraries, two of which are open until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday. But, chamber organizers said, many public high school students cannot get to those facilities quickly. They said it also may be dangerous for some students to be out late at night.

Under the chamber’s program, volunteers will be asked to staff the facilities between 4 and 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and be on hand to help out in the event of an emergency.

For high school students such as senior Gloricel Grojeda of Santa Ana High School, the cuts mean they have had less time to use the school library, which now closes by 3 p.m.

On a recent day after school, the 18-year-old pushed past the doors to the second-floor library for a quick study session and to seek a reference book.

“I would like to study after school” in the library, Grojeda said in Spanish. She said she does not have an easy way to get to the city’s public libraries, while household chores combined with the care she must provide a cousin interrupt home study time.

Grojeda’s story is not unique, chamber organizers said. Many students, who have few other places to go, study in schoolyards or seek out other places where they can hit the books in peace.

At Century High School, where the chamber plans to begin its program Nov. 4, Orlando Aguilar welcomed the concept. Sitting with two friends in the school’s open-air courtyard, the 16-year-old said studying in the school library shields him from the wind that blows his papers and blunts the noise from a marching group.