Closing Libraries to Balance the Books : Some of the 6 Targeted Branches Are Exploring Privatization, Using More Volunteers

Libraries have suffered greatly in the past few years, as the state raided county coffers to balance its budget and the county responded by tightening its own belt, including the libraries’ budget. Once open five or six days a week, most Orange County libraries now have been open only four days.

The county’s bankruptcy has forced the county library system to cut its budget further. Two years ago, the system had a $27-million budget. That was cut last year and will have to be trimmed again, to reach a $20-million target.

Those cuts have occurred just as many branches have begun to install expensive computer systems to keep up with technology and as the cost of books and magazines has continued to rise.

County officials have reached the painful, though tentative, conclusion that six libraries probably will have to close. The officials used a sensible formula in determining which ones went on the list: how many people used each library and how many books were checked out.

The formula produced some unfortunate results. Two of Garden Grove’s three libraries are to be shut down, though the remaining one is a large, good facility. The Seal Beach-Leisure World branch, just outside the gates of the retirement community and a valuable resource for the senior citizens there, is also due to close. Seal Beach city officials are trying to see if the branch could become a private library, perhaps run by Leisure World. That would be welcome.

Also worth exploring is the use of volunteers and private donations to keep libraries open. That is under consideration in Villa Park and Silverado Canyon. The branch in the remote canyon is many miles from the nearest branch, in Rancho Santa Margarita.

County Librarian John M. Adams, given the unenviable task of supervising the closure list, rightly described the shutdowns as “awful.” But he said surviving libraries would be able to expand their hours and operate six days a week. That should ease the burden on patrons of branches forced to close.

Libraries long have been easy targets for budget-cutters, too often at the top of the list while various “public safety” operations were considered untouchable. But since the bankruptcy, both the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office have been forced to cut budgets, and libraries are having to share the trauma. It is painful to watch that happen to institutions that encourage literacy and instill a love for reading, but for now it seems inescapable.