HUNTINGTON BEACH : Oakview Area to Get Branch Library

The City Council voted unanimously Monday night to use $175,230 in federal-state block-grant funds to build a library branch in the Oakview neighborhood, an area in which many Latino families live.

Ron Hayden, the city’s director of library services, said the 2,000-square-foot modular library branch will be built near Oak View School. The branch is scheduled to open Jan. 1, he said.

Oakview is a neighborhood roughly bounded by Beach Boulevard, Gothard Street and Slater and Warner avenues. Many of the residents in the densely populated area are new immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

“This will be the first branch library in the city in 25 years, and I can’t think of a better place to put it,” Hayden said in an interview. He said the library programs should help the neighborhood by offering literacy training and other educational services.

“We’re especially interested in reaching out to the children in Oakview,” Hayden said. “Our survey found that 35% of the children had never come to the Central Library. We think the branch library will be a way of introducing these children to a whole new world.”

However, the city is committed to keeping the branch library at the site for only about a year because there is no permanent funding, city officials said.