SAN FERNANDO : Fund-Raising Drive Started for Library
Bracing for expected budget cutbacks, the manager of the Los Angeles County Library branch in San Fernando has started a fund-raising campaign in which she has been “hitting the streets” for donations and trying to resurrect a support group.
“We need some grass-roots support,” said library Manager Judith Babka, who came to the San Fernando City Council meeting Tuesday night to sell T-shirts and buttons as part of the fund-raising effort. Several city officials bought shirts or buttons.
County budget cuts last year forced the library to cut the days it is open from six to three and the number of hours a week from 48 to 21. The library is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Babka said she is expecting more cuts soon. She has raised more than $900 in the past month.
She said she hopes to bring back the Friends of the San Fernando Library, a community support organization started in 1979 that has been inactive since the mid-1980s. The first meeting of the new group is scheduled at 9 a.m. Saturday at the library.
Friends of the Library raises money for children’s programming, equipment and other library projects.
Babka said she hopes that such a group will give feedback to the library. “I need to know what they want.”
The library has a collection of 30,000 materials.
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