Calabasas : New Library Opens in Leased Storefront

Seven-year-old Matthew Rush was one of the first people through the door Saturday morning after Calabasas officially opened its new library. He wasted no time getting to the children’s section.

Within minutes, he had selected several books, which he handed to his mother, Mary Ann Rush, while he scoured the shelves for more. “My God, there’s lots of books in here,” he said.

He and other patrons were recalling the tiny, cramped room at City Hall that had passed for the city’s library. It held 4,000 volumes; the new facility, a 1,500-square-foot leased storefront at a shopping center at 23645 Calabasas Road, holds 12,000.

At Saturday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, City Councilwoman Karyn Foley presented flowers to volunteer Sue Carpenter for her help in raising money for books and equipment for the new facility. The two spearheaded a drive that raised about $8,000.

“She’s been working like a trouper,” Foley said later. “It’s about time someone turned around and said ‘thank you’ to her.”

Calabasas officials, who signed a three-year lease at the shopping center, have talked about eventually building a library. But budget constraints have prevented that.

And, some say, computers and the Internet may eventually make libraries obsolete.

Foley disagreed. “There is something so joyful to sit down with a book, the sight of it and the smell of it, that can never be superseded by a computer. . . . A library is more than a collection of books, it’s also a community meeting place.”