Oxnard Library Gets Reading Program Grant

Oxnard’s beleaguered public library system got a much-needed boost this week when the City Council accepted a $5,000 grant to establish a reading program that matches senior citizens with elementary schoolchildren.

The program, Grandparents & Books, attempts to hook young readers by having senior volunteers read aloud to them.

Library staff, Friends of the Library, El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, the American Assn. of Retired Persons and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program will be partners in the program, the first of its kind in Oxnard. The program will start in a few months.

Library Director Gail P. Warner said the federal grant to establish the program comes at a time when officials of the cash-strapped city are considering further cuts to library services.

Oxnard officials in the past couple of years have gutted book budgets and reduced library hours at the main library and south Oxnard branch, Warner said.

She said she is bracing for more cuts next fiscal year.

“This is not a local problem; I’m concerned about the future of libraries in the United States,” Warner said. “When it comes to money, every little bit helps.”

Libraries throughout Ventura County have been hit hard by shrinking budgets.

The 16 libraries run by the county’s Library Services Agency, for example, suffered nearly $850,000 in budget cuts this fiscal year.