O.C. Library Budget Cuts: Grim Reading

In Anaheim, it’s standing room only. In Orange, people are beginning to complain. In Buena Park, a popular children’s story-time program was canceled.

Throughout Orange County, libraries are in crisis.

Demand for library services is growing countywide because of the lingering recession but, at the same time, budget cuts are forcing officials to reduce hours, trim staff and buy fewer books.

With more people to serve and fewer workers behind the counter, lines are longer at some libraries and employees say they are being stretched to the limit as they try to meet the needs of an ever-increasing number of users.

“People are waiting much, much longer to have a question answered,” said Kevin Moore, manager of Anaheim Central Library. “Sometimes, it takes 20 minutes to check out books because the lines are so long. The demand for library services has escalated more than 30% in the last three years nationwide.”

Jan Harrison, a children’s librarian in Orange, said: “A book will be listed as available on the computer but it won’t be on the shelf. We’ll find it 20 minutes later but the patron will be gone. It kills you.”

Librarians say much of the higher patronage can be attributed to the recession. More unemployed people are going to libraries to scan newspaper job ads, update their resumes or to look at books on changing careers or relocating.

Moreover, since libraries are an inexpensive form of entertainment, more people are borrowing videos and audiotapes and also checking out recent bestsellers instead of buying them.

“They have all of the books here that I used to purchase,” said Newport Beach library user Mark Nelson. “I don’t really buy magazines or books anymore, I just come here to read or check them out. I think it took hard times for me to realize the value of libraries.”

Newport Beach, which has a movie collection of more than 4,000 titles, rents current releases for $1 a day and hundreds of other movies and instructional videos for free. Library officials say the popular collection is self-supporting and has been embraced by the public during these recessionary times.

“It’s a convenience for many of our patrons,” City Librarian LaDonna Kienitz said. “For most people, the videos are part of their other uses (of) the library. They come to get a book and get a movie at the same time.”

But as more people continue to stream through the doors, financially strapped libraries are forced to freeze hiring, lay off employees, cancel some magazine and newspaper subscriptions and postpone much-needed renovations.

They are also relying more on community volunteers to help with library tasks usually performed by employees.

“I think a lot of libraries never really recovered from Proposition 13,” said Margaret Donnellan, head of Public Libraries Executives Assn. of Southern California. “Many libraries just got back to the point where they were before Proposition 13 and now they’re back to where they started from.”

The 22 cities that use county-run libraries appear to be faring better during the budget crunch than city-funded ones.

Orange County Public Library Director John Adams said he was forced to cut $2.7 million from a $27-million budget but was able to do so without reducing hours or personnel.

Adams said the county library system was able to balance a $2.6-million shortfall in its budget by postponing plans to expand overcrowded libraries in Lake Forest, Irvine, Mission Viejo and Costa Mesa.

“But we are still very concerned about what could happen next fiscal year,” he said.

However, city libraries, at the mercy of tapped-out local governments, are being forced to resort to more severe measures.

“The choices are not easy,” said Ken Stone, budget officer for Anaheim. “I think cities are in the position where they are facing cuts of such magnitude where most, if not all, city services are affected. Libraries are an important basic city service and we would certainly prefer not to have to close libraries even one day a week.”

For the third straight year, Anaheim reduced its library funding, including $400,000 so far from this year’s $6.1-million budget.

“We have approximately 43% of the purchasing power that we had three years ago,” Moore said. “We’ve dropped 75% of our periodical subscriptions and instead of buying five copies of a bestseller, we are buying one.”

The library is buying so few new books that half of its “new books” section has been converted into an employment center filled with books on jobs and careers, Moore said. He added that the wait to check out a bestseller could last up to one year.

All but local newspaper subscriptions have been canceled at the library, which used to subscribe to dozens of the nation’s newspapers.

Orange, which has suffered some dramatic citywide budget cutbacks this year, has closed all of its library branches on Fridays.

The city had already reduced the operating hours of three branch libraries and the City Council will soon consider reducing the operating hours of the city’s main library by another five hours.

“I hope that when we see some light at the end of the tunnel financially, that one of the first things we can look at restoring are the hours and other things that have been cut back,” Mayor Gene Beyer said.

In Fullerton, plans to computerize the library’s card-catalogue system have been delayed, the result of six rounds of budget cuts totaling $400,000 in the past two years, said Albert Milo, library director.

“We are the only public library in Orange County without an automated card-catalogue system,” Milo said. “Some people see us as expendable because we’re not health and safety.”

The Fullerton cuts include a $17,000 reduction in the library’s book budget and the elimination of nearly half of its magazine subscriptions.

In Newport Beach, where 63,000 of the city’s 66,000 residents have library cards, city officials recently trimmed $185,000 from the library’s $3.6-million budget.

This has forced library officials to close the city’s three branch libraries on Sundays and reduce hours throughout the week. The main library will continue to be open all week.

In addition, the financial cutbacks have led to a reduction in hours for some part-time employees. Some full-time employees are now splitting their time between at least two library branches.

“Our libraries are among the most heavily used in the state,” Kienitz said. “These are the biggest cuts we’ve had in many years. We hope our library customers will still be able to get to the library when it’s open.”

Plans are still underway for a new $8-million central library that is scheduled to open next year. Members of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation have donated more than $1.3 million toward the project.

Huntington Beach Library Director Ron Hayden said a long-planned, $8.5-million expansion of the city’s Central Library is still moving forward. Hayden said he was forced to trim $200,000 from the library’s $3.4-million budget, which resulted in the layoff of five part-time employees and the elimination of four full-time jobs.

“We’re doing more with less,” Hayden said. “We have had to reduce our staff by 15% at a time when the library has been breaking records in circulation.”

Library hours were also shortened in Santa Ana, where the main library now closes at 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on Thursday, when it closes at 6 p.m. The library, which had been open on Sundays during school months, will be closed that day throughout the year.

Buena Park Library Director Colleen McGregor said she has had to leave six vacant jobs unfilled and trim $150,000 from the library’s $1.5-million budget.

The reductions have forced the library to buy fewer books and cancel its popular children’s story-time program but, so far, layoffs and a reduction in hours have been avoided.

“The children’s program has been going on forever, it’s a tradition at the library,” McGregor said. “The public has been very understanding. People know that everyone is going through budget cuts.”

Still, some library patrons are angry.

“I was hoping to bring my 7-year-old to the library every Wednesday and possibly Fridays,” Orange resident Mary Ann Ruddis said. “I guess I won’t be bringing her on Fridays now.”

Elementary school teacher Andrea Luigs, whose local branch in Orange is now closed on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, also was upset.

“The city is saying to me that the Taft Library must not be important if it’s closing three out of seven days of the week,” Luigs said.

Donnellan said it is crucial that libraries keep their doors open as many hours as possible.

“With a diverse community, we need to be open more hours, not less,” she said.