Public Library or Concession Stand?

Recently, I had the distinct displeasure of visiting the Santa Ana Public Library. To tell the truth, I’m not even sure they still call it that. The facility, which once served all the public freely and with pride, now serves only those who live and work in Santa Ana, unless the nonresident pays $45 for a library card. This, in spite of the fact that for years it used state and federal funding to build and provide its current stature. If the truth were known, it still does, by one means or another. It’s just another case of bad policy provided by good, tax-dollar salaries.

As a one-time resident I am both maddened and saddened at yet another attempt to turn public property into a concession-stand affair. The staff I spoke with are not proud of the fact that they are now forced to act as cashiers for the knowledge held in the library shelves. Once questioned, they privately admit to the shame they feel at this disgraceful ruling, handed down from the city and library heads. Of course, they are in fear for their positions if they speak up against the travesty of it all.

We must not remain idle in such matters. Write the City of Santa Ana if you feel that the “public” should not go out of public library. Write the county, if you think they can think, and demand that they ensure that the libraries of our area do not become retail or rental establishments. Write to your elected officials, if you think they will help you regain what was meant for you. It is a small chance, but there is still that small chance.

Good God in Heaven, $45 for a library card. Our forefathers would turn in their graves at the levels to which we have fallen.

HANK LAMB

Laguna Beach