Hit Hard by the Quake, Piru Now May Lose Its Library

For residents of tiny Piru, having their library on the county’s hit list is like living out the final chapter of a grim tale.

Still shaken by earthquake losses that include destruction of the town’s only bank and grocery store, Piru residents have turned to the 8-year-old library as their center of activity.

But the facility is on a list of seven that could be shut down as early as September because of drastic cuts in the county budget.

“We have lost our bank, our grocery store and now we are about to lose our library. I don’t think we deserve that,” said John Avila, a Piru resident for 62 years. “If they close the library, it will be a disaster because our children will have no other place to go.”

The sign posted outside the brick building informs residents of the library’s already-limited hours of operation. It says: Hours of Service--Monday and Wednesday 3 to 7 p.m.

During these hours, the small, one-room library is filled with adults reading stories to children or strolling around the shelves looking for a book to keep them busy in the tiny and quiet community.

“Everyone comes to the library,” said Cindy Escoto, a part-time employee and Fillmore resident who runs the facility. “This is the place where things are happening in town--it’s actually the only place where anything is happening.”

But the library is on the county supervisors’ hit list as one of seven to be shut down within the next three months. The others targeted for closure are the Saticoy and Avenue branches in Ventura, Soliz in El Rio, Meiners Oak and Oak View near Ojai, and Oak Park in the east county.

It wasn’t easy for county library officials to come up with a list of libraries to be closed, but they had no choice, county Librarian Dixie D. Adeniran said.

“It’s heartbreaking to contemplate the closure of some of our libraries,” Adeniran said. “But we are operating under clear instructions, and that is we don’t have money to maintain the same level of services . . . next year.”

Adeniran said that because state budget cuts have eliminated nearly 50% of county library funds since 1993, her system would need at least $1.5 million from the county to keep the same level of services next year. Right now, it is $800,000 short, she said.

A decision on the closure is expected later this summer.

In Piru, Susanna Lewy, who takes her four children to the library once or twice a week, has launched a campaign to save the facility.

In the past few weeks, she has written letters to Ventura County supervisors and urged other residents to do the same. She also made a “Save Our Library” poster and had about 450 children sign it.

“Piru is an incredibly isolated area in the county,” Lewy said. “If the library closes, that isolation and sense of disconnection will increase.”

Since receiving the letters, County Supervisor Maggie Kildee has met with library officials in an effort to come up with a solution to save the facility.

“We are exploring what possibilities we have to keep it open,” she said.

Located in a 1,960-square-foot room at Piru School, the library is the product of a partnership between the school, which is part of the Fillmore Unified School District, and the county.

For years, Piru was served by a mobile library, but in 1988, when officials at Piru School decided to create a school library, the county agreed to share the cost.

Since then, the facility, which has 1,800 volumes and operates on an annual budget of about $34,772, has served as a public and school library. About half of Piru’s 1,400 residents have library cards, said Alan Langville, manager of the county community library division.

While the school provides the room, utilities and some books, the county pays for two part-time employees to keep the library open, and it is the library’s biggest supplier of books and magazines, Langville said.

Despite its small size, the library is well-used, he said.

“The circulation is very high for a community of that size,” Langville said.

If the library were to close, residents would have to drive eight to 10 miles to use the library in Fillmore--a trip that would be inconvenient for many, Lewy said.

“A lot of parents don’t have the transportation to go to Fillmore,” she said. “This is an old-fashioned place. The husbands take the cars to work with them, and the wives stay home with the kids and without a car.”