SATICOY : Library Will Get New, Larger Home

More than three years after its former site was demolished, the tiny Saticoy Library is getting a new home.

A total of $238,000 in federal and county grants, along with donations from local businesses, will cover the cost of a portable building measuring 2,400 square feet--six times the size of the library’s temporary quarters, said Dixie Adeniran, director of the Ventura County Library Services Agency.

“We are just thrilled that we’re going to be able to make this happen,” she said. “We’ve been trying for three years and it’s finally going to happen.”

Construction is expected to take about a year, Adeniran said. A grand opening is tentatively scheduled for June, 1995.

The new library, which will be on the south side of Violeta Street west of Campanula Avenue, will be equipped with a computerized catalogue system and ample seating. Thousands of books will be brought out of storage to fill the shelves, which will hold up to 18,000 volumes.

The library project is being funded with $150,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds and $88,000 from the county and local businesses.

Library officials sought the federal funds after a $1.7-million cut in their budget last year forced them to lay off employees and cut operating hours at 16 libraries throughout the county.

“We are being squeezed from every direction, so this funding is a big help,” Adeniran said. “We would have been very stymied without it.”

Until the new building opens, the library will continue to operate at its current site, the meeting room of the Saticoy Community Center at 11168 Violeta St.

Residents interested in volunteering to help set up the new library should call 652-7517.