WORDS AND IMAGES : A Quiet Disaster : Budget problems are forcing libraries to reduce resources and hours. Volunteers hope fund-raisers will soften the blow.

Due to a last-minute assignment that required research, I recently rushed to a public library only to find the doors locked. The hand-lettered sign advised that due to cuts in funding the library would be closed evenings and two days a week. Frustration and anger sat in my throat like bitter medicine. Public libraries (and public schools) are our monuments to liberty and knowledge. From the earliest days of the republic, privately and publicly funded libraries were established by citizens and legislators who recognized their obligation to provide a growing literate populace with access to books.

The reality now is that our libraries are under siege. Due to California’s budget crisis, Ventura County’s libraries face reductions in staff, book budgets and hours of operation. This is a quiet disaster. But we can help by joining volunteers, donors and lovers of learning who are trying to breathe life into the libraries they adopt.

The Friends of the Thousand Oaks Library, 1401 E. Janss Road, are sponsoring a huge book and record sale Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Also at the library, the award-winning Australian film “Careful, He Might Hear You” will screen Saturday at 7 p.m. as part of the Classic Cinema series.

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“Traditions,” a storytelling and music festival, will begin its new expanded season with an evening of “humor, drama and surprise” performed by David Novak and Milbrae Burch on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ventura College Theater on Telegraph Road. There are five more shows scheduled.

Season tickets are available for $50 and can be charged to Visa or MasterCard by phoning 654-6459. Tickets for single events are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

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Joan Prestine will preside over back-to-back workshops at Ventura College on Saturday. From 9 a.m. to noon, a seminar on book publishing options will tell authors what they need to know about the publishing industry. A workshop on self-publishing is scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. The fee is $35 for each class or $60 for both. Register at 654-6459.

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Eugenie Wheeler will conduct a titled “Writing Self-Help Materials” at Moorpark College on Sept. 26. The 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. class will cover the nuts and bolts of getting published and how to write and market self-help material ranging from columns to books. Call 378-1408 for details.

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“Misplaced,” described by critics as “a poignant and compelling film about a young Polish violinist’s coming of age as a stranger in a strange land,” will be shown Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the Ojai Playhouse, 145 E. Ojai Ave. The film’s director, Polish-born Lewis Yansen, will address the audience at the theater and continue the discussion at a 6:45 p.m. dinner in Roger Keller’s Restaurant. Dinner with the director costs $20. Today is the last day for making reservations. Call 646-8946.