Library Chief Calls on Supervisors for Bailout : Budget: Twelve branches face closure. Board pledges as much financial help as possible.

Predicting the closure of a dozen libraries and 89 layoffs, the director of the Ventura County Library Agency on Monday appealed to the Board of Supervisors for financial help to offset an expected $5.1-million loss in state funding.

The supervisors pledged to support the 15-branch library system, but said they were uncertain how much financial assistance the county could muster during this year’s budget crisis.

“Everything is in a state of flux right now,” Supervisor Maria VanderKolk told Library Director Dixie D. Adeniran. “Obviously the libraries are a priority and we’re going to have to do something for them, but how much it is and where it’s going to come from I’m not sure.”

Adeniran met with the supervisors during the last in a series of county budget workshops. She said she began preparing for cuts after Gov. Pete Wilson proposed that the state shift $2.6 billion in property tax funds from cities, counties and special districts to the schools. Until now, the county library system, with its 121 employees, gets the bulk of its money directly from the state as a special district.

“I’m afraid this is the absolutely horrible, worst-case scenario,” said Adeniran, whose agency serves the entire county except Oxnard, Santa Paula and Thousand Oaks. “I don’t see how we could continue operating under these conditions.”

If the budget plan is approved, the county’s libraries could lose more than half their $8.5-million budget, leaving only enough money to operate the three largest branches in Camarillo, Simi Valley and Ventura. The other 12 branches would be closed.

The supervisors discussed several other options to offset the loss, including levying a property tax ranging from $12 to $60, charging the library’s 236,000 borrowers a membership fee and joining forces with Los Angeles libraries.

However, none of those suggestions could be acted on quickly enough to meet the immediate need of the libraries, which may need to begin closing branches and laying off employees as early as July.

More immediate relief might be available by cutting salaries and benefits to county employees and dipping into the general fund, said Supervisors VanderKolk and John K. Flynn.

“Right now the libraries are ready to go under, and we can’t allow that to happen,” Flynn said. ‘We have to try to find some money someplace.”

Flynn said the supervisors will look more closely at possible funding sources for the library during the county budget hearings, which begin July 12.

“Now that we’ve heard from all the departments, we have a pretty good idea of what shape everyone is in,” said Supervisor Maggie Kildee. “The library is in just about the worst shape, and once the hearings start, we’ll simply have to find them some money.”

In the meantime, the library agency has raised $26,000 through fund-raising drives. The agency is also applying for state grants and is considering hiring telemarketers to call library card holders and ask for contributions. And the Ojai Library hopes to raise an additional $26,000 at a benefit blues concert July 10 at Libbey Bowl in Ojai.

“People have been really supportive,” said Mary Crockford, head librarian at the Moorpark branch. “This is a devastating situation, and we’re really going all out.”

In addition to countywide fund-raising activities, the Moorpark branch has held book sales and special-collection drives to raise money.

But Trish Cavanaugh, library agency community relations officer, acknowledged that the money raised through such efforts is no match for the loss in state funds.

“When you’re just trying to scare up some money to buy books, you can really stretch those dollars,” she said. “But when you’re talking about trying to save the whole library system, it doesn’t seem like that much.”