Librarian Says Closing Chapter May Be at Hand : Services: County administrator seeks taxes--or takeovers--to keep the system’s 16 branches in business. City, community leaders consider their options.

Dixie Adeniran would rather talk about books, children’s reading programs, new computer information services. Anything except money.

But these days, that’s all Ventura County’s librarian talks about.

The 16-branch county Library Services Agency has lost nearly half of its funding over the last two years because of state budget cuts and is now in danger of dissolving altogether.

As a result, Adeniran finds herself leading an uphill battle to find new revenue sources for the library system she directs.

For the past month, she has pleaded her case before the Board of Supervisors and one city council after another, offering up a number of options for their consideration, ranging from a special tax to a takeover of libraries by cities.

“We’re open to all kinds of suggestions at this point,” Adeniran said before addressing the Camarillo City Council last week. Her presentation was similar to ones she has already given in Simi Valley, Ojai and Port Hueneme, and will soon be delivering in Fillmore, Moorpark and Ventura.

“We’re at a major crossroads in decision-making about providing library service in this county,” Adeniran said. “The decisions we make in the next few months may have as much consequence as the decisions made in 1915 and 1916 establishing the county library.”

Indeed, officials across the county are already scrambling to develop their own plans to keep local library branches open.

Supervisor Frank Schillo has proposed merging the city-run Thousand Oaks Library with the county-operated Oak Park Library as part of a new library district. Schillo said he plans to meet with officials from both library systems to discuss the plan early next month.

“This is all conceptual,” he said. “We’re only talking right now.”

Under the proposal, the city of Thousand Oaks would staff and run the Oak Park Library, he said. And all property taxes generated from Oak Park for library services would be returned to the community library.

But that money would not be enough to cover administrative costs or increased staffing and operating hours to match those of the city library, officials said. Oak Park residents now pay about $10 per capita for library services versus about $40 in Thousand Oaks.

“Funding and staffing levels would be a concern,” Steve Brogden, deputy director of the city library, said of the proposed merger. “Oak Park would have to be funded at the same level as the Thousand Oaks Library. If the funding is there, then I think we can come to some agreement.”

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The additional funding would have to come from a parcel tax or assessment that Oak Park residents would be asked to vote on. Such a ballot measure would require approval of two-thirds of the voters.

Noreen Armerding, president of Friends of the Oak Park Library, said it is difficult to gauge how residents would react to a library tax.

“I don’t know what the community would do,” she said. “Despite what some people say, we’re not a wealthy community. There are a lot of people who are out of work and retired who live here. We’re not all doctors, lawyers and professionals.”

“To get two-thirds of the people to vote for additional taxes would be difficult,” agreed George Anterasian, a member of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council. “I think it would be close. But I don’t know.”

If the community were to tax itself, though, Anterasian said he would prefer that it operate its own library system. The Oak Park Library now occupies classroom space at Oak Park High School, but money has been set aside to construct a new facility.

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Across the county in Ojai, officials are already exploring the possibility of placing a library parcel tax or assessment on the March, 1996, ballot.

“The City Council here is very interested in proceeding with placing some measure before the voters so that we can have full library services again,” City Manager Andy Belknap said. “If the county is not planning to place a measure before the voters districtwide, then we may do it as a subregion.”

The city recently sent a letter to county supervisors inquiring about the possibility of a countywide parcel tax or assessment. If there is not a countywide ballot measure, Belknap said, then Ojai will seek the county’s help in establishing boundaries for its own library district and in paying for a local election.

Because the majority of the Ojai Valley population lives outside the city, Belknap said a local library district would probably include the Oak View branch in addition to the Ojai Library. He said it is doubtful that the Meiners Oaks Library would be maintained.

Ojai Librarian Ann Crozier said that while there is strong community support for the library, she is not certain that would translate into financial support. But Crozier said she hopes that the community would see it as more than just another expense.

“It’s not a matter of cost,” she said. “I hope people will agree that this is an investment in the future.”

Still, Crozier said getting a ballot measure passed that requires a two-thirds vote is extremely difficult. She noted that the city of Santa Paula was able to get a library parcel tax approved last year, but only after three failed attempts.

“The city has rallied behind the library in the past,” she said. “But I have to admit that we live in a time of perilous financial problems. People are scared about the economy still. I’m not absolutely confident that people will embrace a library tax.”

Whatever route the community chooses, Crozier said she hopes that the city will maintain a partnership with the county so that it can continue to share books and research materials. She noted that the community is home to many artists and writers as well as four prep schools whose students are regular library patrons.

“Although Ojai is small, it has a very diverse reading community,” she said. “And there’s a very intense use of the library. We have the heaviest use of inter-library loans of any county library.”

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Meanwhile, Adeniran said she plans to wrap up her city council presentations by mid-June before going back to the Board of Supervisors with a status report. She said city and county officials, however, may wait to make a decision on what course of action to pursue until after the board approves its 1995-96 budget.

In the past two years, the county has spent more than $2.4 million to subsidize the library system. Even if the Library Services Agency receives $820,000 for the new year, as presently budgeted, Adeniran said it would be forced to shut down its adult and preschool literacy programs as well as seven of its smallest libraries.

“We would be looking at substantial cuts,” she said.