CALABASAS : Local Campaign Raises Funds for the Library

When Mayor Karyn Foley stopped by Los Angeles County’s tiny library branch here last spring to check out a best seller, she discovered just how popular the book was: 84 people in the county library system were already on the waiting list.

“I said, ‘Hey wait a minute,’ ” Foley recalled. “ ‘By the time it filters down to me, it could be a year.’ ”

She said she realized then that the library would need to obtain more books.

“The clamor is for books,” she said. “Wherever I go in town, people are telling me they want to see more books in the library.”

County Librarian Sandra Reuben said she would like to help, but the county cannot afford to buy new books for its 87 branches.

“Last year we weren’t able to buy any books,” she said. “We have no book budget.”

The county this year established a special assessment district to fund libraries, but the Calabasas City Council opted not to join.

Foley said council members tried and failed to obtain guarantees that the $235,000 to be raised from Calabasas property owners under the assessment district would go back to the Calabasas library.

“It happened too fast for us to get total citizen input,” Foley said. “We had a week’s notice tops, or 10 days.”

So began a local campaign to raise money for books, which, since late June has raised $1,100, Foley said. The money will go toward obtaining best sellers for the library.

Much of the money is being raised at weekly book sales held Saturday mornings at the Farmers’ Market in Old Town Calabasas.

Residents have also donated books, she said.

“Donations of used books have been tremendous,” she said. “We have collected about 3,000 books. One person alone gave me 700 books from her husband’s book collection when he passed away.”