Thousand Oaks Library to Reopen as Quake Repairs Continue : Recovery: The main branch will resume operations April 18 with bare floors and exposed girders but full shelves.

The Thousand Oaks Library will reopen in 10 days with cold concrete floors, exposed metal girders and glaring temporary lights. But the shelves will be full and the collection up-to-date.

A low-key celebration will welcome patrons to the Janss Road library at 9 a.m. April 18, four months after the Northridge earthquake shook loose the metal ceiling, ruptured water pipes and tossed thousands of books from the shelves.

While the library has been declared structurally sound, the city has not yet been able to replace the sodden carpet or redesign the drop ceiling, which reflected light into reading areas.

Still, officials have decided to open the 290,000-volume collection to the public a week from Monday, “barring unforeseen circumstances,” Deputy Library Director Steve Brogden said.

Librarians have continued to order new books and collect current magazines during the hiatus, so “we’ll have pretty close to full shelves,” Brogden said. Officials have even replaced most of the children’s puppets, which got soaked when a central water pipe burst.

“People are excited--they’ve been waiting for this,” said Antoinette Hagopian, a member of the Library Restoration Committee. “In Thousand Oaks, the library really is the heart of the community.”

But for five days before the grand reopening, Thousand Oaks readers will have no library at all.

Because staff must transfer computers, reference materials and books from the Newbury Park branch to the main library, both will be closed from April 13 through 17.

“We’re hoping people will be as understanding then as they have been through this whole process,” Brogden said.

Both libraries will resume regular hours April 18.

As patrons stream back into the stripped-down main library, fund-raisers will continue to try to drum up money to help pay for the $2.5 million in earthquake damage.

The federal government and insurance payments will cover much of the cost, but city officials have not yet learned the exact breakdown. Early estimates pegged the city’s total responsibility at $250,000.

To meet that challenge, a Library Restoration Committee has launched a series of fund-raisers, from traditional bake sales to an unusual Hard Hat Art Day for children to draw on the library’s newly exposed concrete floor.

In another ongoing campaign, the Friends of the Library has been selling mock stock for $20 a share. With each purchase, shareholders receive a certificate and the right to imprint their name on any book in the library.

Stock sales have reaped $3,000 since the earthquake--as much as the campaign generated during the previous two years, according to Kathy Lewis, president of Friends of the Library.

“It’s just been going gangbusters,” Lewis said. “It’s tiring and exciting at the same time.”

So far, the various fund-raising efforts have raised $25,000, and restoration committee members are determined to quadruple that sum. They’ve been getting a boost from a steady trickle of children’s pennies, nickels and quarters collected in school coin drives.

Every child who contributes can sign a “Children’s Giving Book,” which will remain in the library’s permanent collection as a record of community support.

Recognizing that apple pies and coin drives--and even fake stock sales--will not raise enough money to pay all the bills, restoration committee members plan an appeal to private corporations once they figure out the city’s bill.

And a local photographer, Planning Commissioner Forrest Frields, has announced a photography contest to raise money for refurbishing the library. Winning photos of the Conejo Valley’s wetlands, oaks or scenic vistas will be published on postcards, posters and calendars and sold on behalf of the library.

FYI

The Thousand Oaks Library will be reopen April 18 with its normal schedule: Monday through Thursday,10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Newbury Park branch, which had extended hours to serve Thousand Oaks readers, will be closed from Wednesday through April 17 so librarians can return borrowed volumes and rearrange the reading room. Starting April 18, the branch will resume regular hours: Monday through Wednesday, noon to 9 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.