AGOURA HILLS : Library to Expand to 6-Day Operation

Encouraged by the likelihood of additional funding, the Agoura Hills library plans to significantly expand its hours.

“We have been operating on a very limited scale for the last three years now, and libraries should be open at least five or six days a week,” said Sy Rimer, community library manager of Las Virgenes Public Library.

Starting next month, the library plans to open six days a week, up from the current four days. Library officials haven’t decided which day the library will be closed.

But the new schedule will keep the library open 55 hours a week, more than twice as many open hours as now. The changes are subject to approval by Los Angeles County Head Librarian Sandra Reuben.

David Flint, the county library’s assistant director for finance and planning, said the county will set up new operating schedules for most of the county’s other libraries by mid-October.

The Las Virgenes Library is now open Mondays and Wednesdays from 1 to 8 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The funds permitting the library to extend its hours will come from a special assessment to raise money for the county’s libraries, Rimer said. In Agoura Hills, residents will pay $28.50 annually per household for library services.

The Agoura Hills City Council voted to join the special assessment district on the condition that Gov. Pete Wilson sign a bill prohibiting the state from taking money from library systems to pay its own bills, Rimer said.

Another condition was that the county library system agree to expand operating hours at the Agoura Hills facility.