A Library Near Mothballs : Finances: Parents, teachers and children decry proposed closure of the Ventura Avenue branch. They say it’s singled out unfairly.

Tucked away in a rundown strip mall in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Ventura, an oasis of learning is threatened.

The Ventura Avenue Library is a one-room, 20,000-volume operation where children flock after school to read and study. It’s a place where patrons can socialize without being hushed by a stern librarian, a place where students can get personal help for their term papers.

It boasts one of the largest Spanish reading collections among the county libraries, and has one of the highest circulation rates among small libraries countywide.

But after 30 years of service, it may close its doors Tuesday.

If the Ventura County Board of Supervisors includes the branch at 807 N. Ventura Ave. in the next round of budget cuts, the library will shut down the same day.

Educators, parents and children are outraged over the proposed closure, claiming the library is being singled out because it serves a low-income area that has a reputation for gang problems.

“The avenue has always had a bad name,” said Laurie Toro, 32, who has been bringing her two daughters to the library for years. “It’s tough enough up here. The kids on this side of town don’t start off with too much. I don’t think we’re asking a lot to have a library here.”

It will be the first time since the mid-1970s that a library has closed in the county, according to Library Services Director Dixie Adeniran. In August, the Avenue Library was reduced to operating two days a week from five days.

The proposed closure is part of $383,500 in library service reductions that Adeniran will present to the supervisors. Other county libraries will have reduced hours, and the Adult Literacy Program will be scaled back, Adeniran said.

The Avenue Library has been targeted for closure because it is more costly to operate than the other five small libraries and is about a mile from the E.P. Foster Library, where the Avenue Library’s displaced patrons can go, Adeniran said.

The $17,000 yearly rent is the highest of all small libraries in the county because “at the time the lease was negotiated, the real estate market was very high,” Adeniran said.

Shutting down the library and the attached rental storage space will save $64,000 a year, she said.

“We never like to shut down a library,” Adeniran said. “It’s hard to have to be looking at restructuring service rather than improving.”

The Avenue Library, parents and teachers say, is well-known for catering to children.

A gigantic stuffed frog sits on the circulation desk, greeting visitors as they come through the door. Puppets are scattered throughout the children’s reading area, and cartoons are pasted on the sides of the computer terminals.

Carl Chamberlain, the sole librarian who works there, said he has increased the sports section to draw young boys.

“While they’re here reading about Bo Jackson, they may see Hemingway,” said Chamberlain, 42.

Twelve-year-old Brandon Conaway, a seventh-grader at nearby De Anza Middle School, said, “They’re too mean at the other libraries. It’s more fun here because all those other libraries are all quiet and full of college people.”

Chamberlain said he is too soft-hearted to reprimand his young patrons often. He does frown at them if he hears cursing and tries to act as a mentor to some children who don’t receive much attention from their families. He entertains them with stories about sports heroes such as Reggie Jackson and Muhammad Ali, whom he knew from his former career as a journalist.

“I do whatever it takes to get them to check out a book,” Chamberlain said. His efforts seem to have paid off--only the Oak View branch library has more books checked out in a year, county officials said.

The Avenue Library is supposed to be open only from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, but Chamberlain will open up early for school field trips or stay open late to help someone looking for a book. He assists children with their research--personalized attention that is more difficult to come by in a larger library.

Chamberlain, who has no children, also keeps a year-round Christmas tree on his desk that is decorated by his young patrons. On the edge of his desk, he tapes handmade cards he has received from children.

Betty Molina, 55, has been coming to the library for 18 years. The librarian “doesn’t get paid extra to be nice. Carl gives the children personal attention, he encourages them,” she said.

Chamberlain, who has worked at the Avenue Library for four years, will be transferred to another location if the Avenue Library closes.

But he has become very attached to some of his regular patrons, he said.

“Some of the most brilliant kids are here,” he said. “Three years ago, they could barely speak English. And now they’re getting A’s and talking about being doctors and lawyers. When I think about closing it, I want to cry.”

Many of the children, Chamberlain said, travel by foot or bicycle because their parents don’t have cars. The E.P. Foster Library is too far for them, and most will simply stop going to the library, he said.

Ten-year-old Sara Hilton, who attends E.P. Foster Elementary School, said she comes once a week on her bike to check out books. If the Avenue Library closes, she said, she will travel to the E.P. Foster Library less often because of the extra distance.

“If they close, a lot of children will be sad,” she said.

The Avenue Library draws students from De Anza Middle School and E.P. Foster and Sheridan Way elementary schools. Teachers and administrators say they are upset about losing a vital supplement to their classrooms.

“We try to foster the joy of reading,” said Trudy Arriaga, principal at Sheridan Way, who gives library card applications to all her students. “The joy of reading can make or break a person. I understand budget cuts like everyone else, but let’s not act hastily. A library is a long-term investment in a child’s future.”

Dave Myers, principal at De Anza Middle School, said, “We feel like we’re arguing the obvious. There is such a desperate need for a library in this area. Oftentime the poor and the disadvantaged don’t have political clout.”

Laura Gulovsen, a retired E.P. Foster kindergarten teacher, agreed. “Children need a place to study and read and write reports and have access to books and encyclopedias,” she said. “They don’t have them in their homes due to poverty.”

The three schools have begun letter-writing campaigns to the supervisors and have bombarded local newspapers with letters to the editor. They have also asked the support of parents, neighbors and nonprofit groups.

Supervisor Susan K. Lacey, whose district includes the library, said she has not decided how she will vote.

“I saved it last year when it was on the chopping block, but I don’t know if I can do that this time,” Lacey said.

She dismissed accusations from patrons who say the Avenue Library is being targeted for closure because it is in a poor neighborhood.

“It’s nice to be parochial, but you have to look at the whole system,” she said, noting that Ventura is the only city in the county library system that has more than one facility.

Last year, after heavy lobbying, Supervisor Vicky Howard got her fellow board members to approve spending $260,000 from emergency funds to more than double the size of the Moorpark library, which is in her district. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Moorpark has the highest median income of any city in Ventura County.

“I don’t think politics have anything to do with it,” Howard said. “Philosophically, I don’t want to close any libraries because I don’t think you can get the proper education unless it’s augmented by a library. The hard realities are that we’re going to have to figure out something.”

The supervisors have yielded to political pressure in the past. In 1989, they reversed themselves and voted to reopen library doors four nights a week and on Sundays after hundreds of disgruntled patrons complained about cutbacks.

Lacey said she is working with the Ventura Unified School District and the Boys & Girls Club of Ventura to reopen the Avenue Library later--possibly at a different location and funded by someone other than the county--but no definite plans have been agreed upon.