Officials From 10 Cities Talk of Ways to Save Libraries

Hours after public library supporters gathered around a birthday cake Thursday to blow out 80 candles--and make a wish--for the Ventura County library agency, city leaders discussed a plan to dismantle the cash-strapped institution.

But officials from several cities, which would assume more responsibility under a proposed library federation, said they were reluctant to change the existing agency.

“I just can’t see what is the advantage of a federation over the model we have now,” said Ventura City Manager Donna Landeros.

Even during the joyous morning celebrations at E.P. Foster Library in Ventura, a cloud hovered over the three generations of nearly 100 avid readers.

“Momentous decisions were made 80 years ago to establish the library system,” said Dixie Adeniran, director of the county’s Library Services Agency. “We are at another time that requires momentous decisions to save our libraries.”

And in the afternoon, that is precisely what 10 city managers and Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo were considering.

Schillo is pushing a plan that he says will streamline the county’s library system by setting up a federation that would essentially transfer control of the libraries to cities in a joint-powers agreement with the county.

But several city managers said the county library system suffers from a lack of cash, not a lack of efficiency.

The budget for the county’s libraries has gone from $10 million in 1992 to $5.8 million in the current fiscal year, and officials expect an additional $1.5 million reduction for next fiscal year.

“Rather than give up on the library district and re-create it, why can’t we get in and find out if there are ways we can reduce the overhead costs in the current structure?” said Camarillo City Manager Bill Little.

Little also said that under the federation, the public would come to each City Council meeting and demand that the city restore library services to pre-1992 levels, a responsibility cities probably would not embrace.

Another roadblock for Schillo’s proposal is that it is predicated on the county’s three independent library systems’--Oxnard, Santa Paula and Thousand Oaks--joining the proposed federation.

While Santa Paula and Oxnard officials were ambivalent about the proposal Thursday, Thousand Oaks’ director of library services, Marvin Smith, who runs a well-funded library, gave a categorical no.

“We would love to help,” Smith said, “but there is nothing in it for us.”

Schillo’s proposal is not completely dead.

Officials plan to reconsider it at a city managers’ meeting in April, after Camarillo, Ojai and Piru voters render their verdicts on five ballot measures that would increase property taxes to fund libraries.

If the measures are approved, city managers said, it would give an indication that voters may support higher taxes for libraries countywide.

At Thursday’s morning celebrations, sixth-graders from De Anza Middle School presented 77 letters of appreciation to 77 library employees.

“Dear Sandy Kaplan,” read a letter by Kristofer Vasquez, who turned bright red as the letter was read. “Thank you for being a librarian. You always help people find books, and you are so kind to others, you are funny and, most important of all, you’re smart.”

In a presentation of the history of Ventura’s libraries, Trish Cavanaugh, of the county’s library agency, told colorful stories, including that of Elizabeth Topping, the county’s first librarian, who delivered books on horseback in the 1920s.

Johanna Overby had heard the stories before.

In 1925 she got her first library card. She was 5 years old, and the first book she checked out was “Heidi.”

Nowadays, she said, she prefers mystery books.

“Having the library closed on Sundays makes me very very unhappy,” Overby said.

That’s not likely to change any time soon, library officials say.

Today Ventura’s three branches offer a combined total of 72 hours of service, just 11 more hours than Foster Library alone offered in 1992.