CLOSING THE BOOKS : Valley libraries are among the busiest in the county, but services are being cut here as elsewhere. Computerization of book searches stretches thin resources a little further.

“It’s absurd,” Tony Regina growls. “Of all things to cut--the library! Are they crazy? The books are already here and paid for.”

A regular at the branch library in Sherman Oaks, he is trying to gather information for a book he is writing about motivational psychology. But lately, the library just doesn’t meet his needs.

For one thing, serious science works are not carried at his local branch. “All I find are pop psychology and New Age and 23 books by Shirley MacLaine,” he said.

Unable to borrow what he wants, Regina purchases his own research materials. He carts them to the library, where he can read in the calm and quiet. But recent cutbacks have shut down the branch several mornings and evenings a week--just when he wants to get some work done.

Borrowing a book, doing research or just browsing are all getting tougher in Los Angeles. During economic hard times, residents turn to libraries for free help and advice. But in Los Angeles, they increasingly have nowhere to turn.

City library branches open late and close early--and hours will be reduced even more this year. Some city branches may shut down, following the lead of Los Angeles County, which closed 10 county branches in November.

Even children seeking a quiet haven to read or study are locked out. More than half of all public school libraries in California closed in the last decade--inspiring the American Library Assn. to note that a child in a correctional institution has better access to a school library than a public school student in California.

The libraries’ troubles, while drastic, are not new.

Los Angeles libraries, which began as a single “reading room” in the 1870s, have been victims of municipal funding woes since their inception. In 1910, librarian and historian Charles Lummis complained that “libraries suck on the hind teat” in city government. More recently, Proposition 13 dealt libraries a hard blow from which they never recovered.

This year’s cuts are worse than ever. The city budget crunch forced community branches to reduce service from 45 to 40 hours a week. The downtown Central Library and seven regional branches, including the North Hollywood and West Valley libraries, were pared from 55 to 46 hours a week. The library’s personnel budget was slashed by $2.78 million citywide. A hiring freeze precludes libraries from filling their more than 100 vacancies. The San Fernando Valley even lost one of its three bookmobiles.

Funds for books were chopped by $500,000, and more cuts are expected. Meanwhile, book prices doubled and periodical costs increased by 400% over the past 15 years.

“It is so painful. I get a migraine every time I order books,” frets Sylmar librarian Bernice Sterne. “When I went to library school in the ‘40s, we were taught to buy a balanced collection. That is no longer possible. I have to discipline myself when new books come out. I used to buy two or three copies of Stephen King. Now I can buy only one. We say to people, ‘Please, please, bring it back as soon as you finish reading it.’ ”

“Nobody has a full staff,” said librarian Cecilia Riddle, East Valley regional manager in charge of the 10 branches east of the San Diego Freeway. “We reassign people from all over the city to cover different branches. They leave one work site and go to another just so they can open the doors. But as attrition continues, there are fewer and fewer people to move around, and we become less able to cover the hours we are open.”

At Los Angeles County libraries, hours were trimmed by 13% in mid-November, new book purchases were reduced by 60% and magazine subscriptions were cut in half. The county also closed 10 branches, including a Lancaster bookmobile.

“We suffered after Proposition 13, and we worked our way to some other standard of normalcy,” Riddle said of the city library system. “But this is another step down. Where is it going to end? How much worse can it get?”

It will probably get much worse.

In response to the Southland’s continuing economic woes, compounded with the state’s budget crisis, Mayor Tom Bradley proposed further cutbacks, including closing libraries an additional day a week and cutting branches to 35 operating hours.

According to library spokesman Robert Reagan, some city branches may close.

“It’s sadder than a Greek tragedy,” laments a college English instructor who stopped at the Sherman Oaks branch to catch up on grading papers. “The library is a haven. I wish they would change the hours, make it full time again.”

Librarians have the same wish.

“We would like to expand the hours, expand the staff and serve the city,” Van Nuys librarian Gene Estrada said. “People come to the library and rattle doors, but we are closed. When they come in, they have to wait for help because we have less staff. Before Proposition 13, we were open every night until 9 p.m. Since then, the population and circulation have skyrocketed, but what we are able to offer people has been whittled down.”

Estrada points out that libraries must compete for funds with other fundamental city services--such as police, fire and sanitation. “We wish libraries could also be seen as an essential service,” he said. “What we do is of paramount importance. We make smart voters, smart consumers. People may go into a library for information more often than they call 911.”

Even before the recent cuts, local branches weren’t sitting in the lap of luxury, according to Sun Valley librarian Judith Tetove. “The buildings are inadequate and old,” she says. “We are working with stuff that was designed to work in the 1930s and ‘40s.”

Tetove complains that her branch is woefully lacking in electric outlets and phone hookups, but at least she has toilets. The North Hollywood branch, built in 1929, didn’t have indoor restrooms until July. (Patrons were directed to restrooms at a nearby park.)

Carrie Gaston, a self-employed technical illustrator, regularly visits the West Valley regional branch in Reseda. She has noticed the shrinking number of books, the disappearing magazines, the dwindling staff behind the desks and the carts piled high with books that seem to never get re-shelved. She sometimes waits in line as long as 20 minutes to check out books, and occasionally she drives from branch to branch to find what she needs.

Some afternoons she visits the library to look up articles for her 15-year-old son. The boy, who attends a magnet school in West Los Angeles, can’t do his own research because he doesn’t get home until 5:30 p.m.--when their local branch is closed.

“The staff does the best they can,” Gaston said. “But they don’t have enough people working here.”

But patrons who are persistent and willing to wait for the attention of harried librarians can still get the information they need at even the smallest branch.

Through inter-library loans, patrons have easy and inexpensive access to books at any of the branch libraries, all of Central Library’s vast holdings and even works held in public libraries throughout the United States and Canada. For as little as 50 cents, the book will be delivered--sometimes in just a few days--to their local branch.

“I tell people their library card is like a passport; they can get materials from all over the place,” Estrada said. “If people are patient, it is worth the wait. You have a long reach with your library card.”

To satisfy the public’s insatiable demand for bestsellers, some novels are rented for a dime a day at many libraries. “A fiction book costs $15 or $20, so people don’t mind paying 10 cents a day,” Sherman Oaks librarian Judy Sanchez said.

Today’s library also stocks a lot more than books. Patrons can borrow videos, audiocassettes and books on tape.

The technological age has simplified research. Within the next few years, all branch libraries will be automated, allowing patrons to know exactly which branch has a particular title in stock. Computers are already used to search through hundreds of magazine articles. Even though branches slashed their periodical subscriptions, articles can be quickly transmitted to patrons by fax from the Central Library.

Librarians have found ways to cope during bleak economic times. When one branch is lucky enough to buy a new reference collection, the old set is given to another library, like hand-me-downs passed from sibling to sibling.

As personnel is cut to the bone, volunteers supplement the skeleton staff. Volunteers read to children, check books in and out, answer phones and assist the public.

Volunteers also collect donations and hold book sales to raise funds for materials that branches can’t afford to buy.

“We keep plugging away,” Riddle said. “People just pitch in and keep it going. There is still a lot of activity going on.”

In fact, library usage is at an all-time high. About two-thirds of the nation’s adults visit a public library at least once a year, and 40% stop in monthly.

According to library spokesman Reagan, library use in Los Angeles is up 20% since 1991. Citywide circulation is up by more than half a million--and that does not include patrons who research, browse through newspapers or copy magazine articles without checking out a book.

Valley patrons especially rely on their libraries. The West Valley Regional Library is the busiest of the 63 branches in the city. Granada Hills ranks second. Nine of the 13 most-used branches in Los Angeles are in the Valley.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, there wasn’t a vacant table or empty aisle at the West Valley branch.

The air was filled with a busy hum as children perched on miniature wooden chairs around a volunteer who read stories to them.

Older students took notes from fat encyclopedias, and senior citizens scanned magazines. Women in business suits and men in ties perused the library’s reference section. A little boy looking for help wandered from adult to adult, sweetly asking, “Excuse me? Are you a librarian?”

The crowds are largely attributed to the recession.

People have more time on their hands, less money to spend and a greater need for help and advice. When the going gets tough, the public goes to the library.

“We are just swamped. It’s like K mart in here,” said Estrada, who saw circulation at his Van Nuys branch increase by 22,000 over the past year while the number of librarians and clerks was cut by five. “People want information about resumes or starting their own business. They want information about GEDs or college or law school. They want to learn how to fix their car or refrigerator. They come in to borrow videos because they can’t afford to spend two bucks to rent one.”

Children also turn to public libraries more than ever, according to Riddle.

“Where else will they get books and help?” she said.

School libraries and librarians are increasingly rare in California, ranked “worst of the worst” by the American Library Assn.

More than half of the state’s school libraries closed over the past decade, and of those that aren’t padlocked, more than three-quarters (79%) operate without librarians. California averages one school librarian per 4,000 children, compared to top-rated Wisconsin, where one librarian serves an average of 58 pupils. California ranks 43rd in the nation in the number of school library books.

Libraries even serve as a home away from home for latchkey kids, who walk to libraries after school and stay until their parents pick them up. The unorthodox baby-sitting service presents benefits not found in a sandbox.

“Some of these kids have parents who aren’t able to help them because they don’t have the time or don’t speak English,” said Tetove, who recently set up a “homework center” for young scholars in the Sun Valley branch. “The kids get attention in the library, and they love it. Some have improved in their abilities like you would not believe.”

“We are trying to get through hard times, but the library is still full of positive things for people,” Riddle said. “We are free, and we are here for everyone. A library is a wonderful resource. It’s a neat place to be.”

Hours Canoga Park, 7260 Owensmouth Ave., (818) 887-0320. Hours: 12:30-8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 12:30-5:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Chatsworth, 21052 Devonshire St., (818) 341-4276. Hours: 12:30-8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday; 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Saturday; 12:30-5:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday. East Valley Regional Branch, 5211 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood, (818) 766-7185. Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; noon-8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Encino/Tarzana, 18231 Ventura Blvd., (818) 343-1983. Hours: same as Chatsworth. Granada Hills, 10640 Petit Ave., (818) 368-5687. Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday and Saturday; 12:30-8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; 12:30-5:30 p.m. Wednesday and Friday. Northridge, 9051 Darby Ave., (818) 886-3640. Hours: same as Chatsworth. Pacoima, 13605 Van Nuys Blvd, (818) 899-5203. Hours: same as Canoga Park.

Panorama City, 14345 Roscoe Blvd., (818) 894-4071. Hours: same as Canoga Park. Sherman Oaks, 14245 Moorpark St., (818) 981-7850. Hours: same as Chatsworth. Studio City, 4400 Babcock Ave., (818) 769-5212. Hours: same as Granada Hills. Sunland/Tujunga, 7771 Foothill Blvd., (818) 352-4481. Hours: same as Canoga Park. Sun Valley, 7935 Vineland Ave., (818) 764-7907. Hours: same as Canoga Park. Sylmar, 13059 Glenoaks Blvd., (818) 367-6102. Hours: same as Chatsworth. Valley Plaza, 12311 Vanowen St., North Hollywood, (818) 765-0805. Hours: same as Canoga Park. Van Nuys, 6250 Sylmar Avenue Mall, (818) 989-8453. Hours: same as Chatsworth. West Valley Regional Branch, 19036 Vanowen St., Reseda, (818) 345-4393. Hours: noon-8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday; 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Woodland Hills, 22200 Ventura Blvd., (818) 887-0160. Hours: same as Granada Hills.