VENTURA : Library Board Agrees to Turn to Volunteers

With no help in sight from the city, county or state, Ventura’s library advisory board agreed Wednesday to use volunteer help for raising money needed to restore hours and staff at the city’s four branches.

Reacting to Gov. Pete Wilson’s veto of a bill that offered an escape from the library’s budget crunch, the panel agreed to survey city residents about library needs and seek donations.

The city would need an additional $250,000 a year to bring the Ventura libraries back to the same hours and staffing they had three or four years ago, advisory board member Keith Burns said.

In the years since, more than half of the public library’s employees have been laid off, and hours of operation have been slashed from 65 hours a week to 20 or less at each of the city’s two main branches.

“We have two large libraries open every other day with the same staff shuttling back and forth,” Burns said.

One option for restoring services--a proposed special assessment for libraries--was eliminated when Wilson vetoed the measure. The county government, which operates Ventura’s four libraries, provided only a minimal budget for the year ahead.

And the Ventura City Council has expressed little interest in supplementing the branches. “I don’t think it’s likely the city is going to contribute money under the current system into the county framework,” said Mayor Tom Buford, who attended the meeting.