Regulars Lament Losing Libraries in Neighborhood : Economy: Edgewood, Del Mar and Sunnyslope branches are being closed in a move to make up for a $10.2-million county budget shortfall.

They call it The Big Library, over at the little one.

That’s the West Covina Regional Library, the big brick building over in the Civic Center where you have to drive around forever to find a parking place.

It’s not a place the regulars at the Edgewood Library about a mile away look forward to calling home. But starting today, they’ll have no other choice.

All last week, Edgewood librarians told visitors that it was curtains after 23 years. “Go on over to The Big Library from now on,” they said, and “Can you drop by the goodby party Saturday for some punch?”

The staff and patrons at Edgewood were bemoaning the decision by Los Angeles County library officials last week to permanently close their branch and nine others in a move to make up for a $10.2-million budget shortfall.

In addition to Edgewood, two other San Gabriel Valley libraries were scheduled to close by today: the Del Mar branch in Rosemead and the Sunnyslope branch in an unincorporated area near Pasadena. Staff members at those libraries will be transferred to other branches, and it is uncertain what will happen to the branch buildings, which were leased, said Sue Cowen, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Public Library system.

The decision on what branches to close included factors such as the proximity of other libraries and the number of books and other materials checked out. At each of the three San Gabriel Valley libraries that closed, annual circulation was less than 71,000. Other county libraries have as many as 400,000 items checked out each year.

All other county libraries are limping along after having their book and magazine budgets and service hours whacked to the bone. In addition, the Altadena Library District Board of Trustees will meet Nov. 30 to find ways to make up for $318,000 in state and county cuts from its $1.4-million budget, said William Tema, a district librarian.

The loss of the local libraries leaves their neighborhoods a lonelier place, residents said.

The Edgewood, Del Mar and Sunnyslope branches were in neighborhoods, surrounded by homes. They were places where parents let their children walk alone after school, where neighbors ran into neighbors and stopped to chat.

Edgewood was a place where young readers were rewarded with a pencil that smells like chocolate, where librarians called regulars by name, where staff members would alert the horror-book lovers when the latest Stephen King novel was on the shelves. It worked both ways--regulars brought the staff flowers and homemade goodies in appreciation.

Last week, Edgewood regular Sally Siggson, 47, was checking out a copy of “The Cat Who Wasn’t There,” by Lillian Jackson Braun. The librarians always tell her when a new book in the mystery series comes in because they know she’s a fan, Siggson said. She remembers when her son, now in high school, won the library’s summer reading contest in the third grade. On summer days, the family walks the four blocks from home to the library.

“It’s nice when you walk in and someone knows your name,” said Siggson, a part-time elementary school assistant. “Like an old neighborhood library.”

She broke away from a conversation to join a library staff discussion about the goodby party.

“Want me to bring something?” she asked.

In the children’s section at Edgewood, 12-year-old Cuong Dang was doing his homework, a page of long division. He used to do his homework there about four days a week because it’s too loud at home, where he lives with his five brothers and sisters and parents. This was where Cuong discovered his favorite book, “Summer of the Swans,” by Betsy Byars. He didn’t know where he would go after Edgewood closes.

“My dad’s really busy,” said Cuong, who ran into three school friends separately at the library that afternoon. “He doesn’t have a chance to drive me to the West Covina library.”

Edgewood, a 3,881-square-foot library with about 30,000 volumes, was big on children. There were thank-you notes from children propped atop book shelves, and there was a special comic book section. For adults, there was a case of books on tape, donated by the West Covina Lions Club.

Rosemead, a 3,100-square-foot library with about 18,000 volumes, also tried to keep children coming. Old Valentine’s Day cards from youngsters were still taped to the walls, and the names of children in the summer reading program were written on construction paper stars that dangled from a string on the ceiling.

“You use it as a second home,” said Rosemead regular Bruce Karl Berghoefer, 76, a retired toolmaker who came the library to get books on plumbing or painting. He remembered when he asked the library to get him a book on his new 360 Honda motorcycle, and it came, shortly afterward--brand new, still in its wrapper. And he remembered the time a librarian helped him find a baby book and pick the names of his soon-to-be son and daughter, Karen and Kevin, more than 33 years ago.

Rosemead, which opened in 1953, catered to the neighborhood by offering Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese books and newspapers, library manager Sarah Fang said. She spent the week fielding complaints about the closing.

“How can you close this?” one woman asked her. “I came here when I was a kindergartner and now I bring my teen-age daughters.”

Library manager Denise Dilley heard the same lament at Sunnyslope, which was to close Friday with a goodby party that regulars labeled “a wake.”

“We’re the last of a dying breed,” said Dilley, about the neighborhood library. “That’s why it’s a shame to see us go.”

County Library Alternatives

Three Los Angeles County libraries in the San Gabriel Valley will close permanently by today because of budget cuts: Del Mar branch in Rosemead, Edgewood branch in West Covina and Sunnyslope branch in an unincorporated area near Pasadena.

Here are alternative county libraries:

Near Del Mar:

* Rosemead Library, 8800 E. Valley Blvd.; open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday.

* El Monte Library, 3224 N. Tyler Ave.; open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday, noon to 6 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, closed Saturday and Sunday.

* Norwood Library, 4550 N. Peck Road, El Monte; open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, noon to 6 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday.

Near Edgewood:

* West Covina Regional Library, 1601 West Covina Parkway; open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

* Baldwin Park Library, 4181 Baldwin Park Blvd.; open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, 11 to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday.

Near Sunnyslope:

* Live Oak Library in Arcadia, 4153-55 E. Live Oak Ave.; open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday, Monday and Thursday.

* Temple City Library, 5939 Golden West Ave.; open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday.