VILLA PARK : Efforts Continue to Save Branch Library

A City Council member said this week that efforts are continuing to save the branch library from closing but that the county is not being encouraging.

“We’re not closed yet, but it’s coming down to the wire,” said Councilman Joseph S. Barsa. The county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote in June on the proposal to close some branch libraries in the county system, including the Villa Park branch.

Barsa and Councilman John Frackelton have been trying to persuade county government to keep the threatened branch libraries open, but with shortened hours. But in a report to the City Council at its Tuesday night meeting, Barsa said county library officials have so far given little cause for optimism.

He said Villa Park and Garden Grove are jointly sending a letter to county officials suggesting a tiered system for library branches. “The letter asks the county librarian to break the library [system] down to three groups: small, medium and large,” Barsa said.

“The small libraries would be open three days a week; the medium libraries would be open four days a week, and large libraries open five days a week. The regional libraries would be open six days a week.”

Barsa said he would soon be meeting with Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez and county Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy to urge their support for keeping the Villa Park branch open.

“It’s important for us to keep [the Villa Park branch library] open for a year,” Barsa said. “There’s a probability that the library system will go into a [joint powers authority], as the fire system has done. If it does, the county librarian, by his own admission, has indicated he could operate the library system with $1.5 million less. So all of a sudden we could have $1.5 million available, so we’ve got to fight to keep this [branch] open.”