Library Agency Begins $1-Million Fund Drive

In an unprecedented push to restock shelves, the county library agency this week launched a yearlong, $1-million fund-raising drive to buy books.

“We are at the point where we have no money to purchase new materials,” said Trish Cavanaugh, a community relations director for the Ventura County Library Services Agency, which is sponsoring the drive.

The agency serves 15 libraries and 402,000 residents in Ventura County, excluding Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula and Oxnard.

Library budgets have been slashed countywide in the past year, the result of the state budget crisis. The overall county library budget fell from $9.6 million to $8.4 million this year, and next year’s budget could shrink by an additional $1.2 million to $3 million, library officials estimate.

Hours and services have been reduced at many branches and the Avenue branch in Ventura may be closed unless backers can come up with $48,000 in the next two months, Ventura County supervisors decided this week.

The cuts have meant drastic reductions in funds to buy books.

The agency’s book-buying budget has plunged from more than $1 million in 1990 to $400,000 this year, Cavanaugh said. Most of that has already been spent on periodicals and major reference books, she said. “There’s nothing left at all” to buy fiction and other types of books.

The agency’s 15 libraries contain about 750,000 books, Cavanaugh estimated. That amounts to 1.7 volumes per resident served. The American Library Assn. recommends stocking 2.5 volumes per person, Cavanaugh said.

The $1 million the library agency hopes to raise will buy about 33,000 books, just enough to replace those that are dilapidated or obsolete, Cavanaugh said. “At this point we’re just trying to maintain the status quo.”

As part of the first phase of the yearlong effort, letters were sent to 16,500 local businesses this week asking them to donate money, Cavanaugh said. Contributors’ names will be posted at all library branches.

Public schools will participate in the second phase of the drive, titled “Libraries Make Cents,” by asking students to bring 10 pennies to school during the week of March 29, Cavanaugh said. If every child contributes, the schools could raise as much as $10,000, library officials estimate.

The agency is also accepting financial donations from any county residents who wish to contribute, Cavanaugh said. Checks, made out to VCLSA Book Campaign, can be mailed to 4274 Telegraph Road, Ventura, 93003.