Fullerton Library

* “Inefficiency. Mismanagement. Waste.” These code words, the slogan of the new anti-tax crusaders, collapse when the facts of what has happened in Fullerton since 1991 are revealed, as Gerald Brown’s perceptive analysis in Orange County Voices on Nov. 17 has shown.

For one more example of the dire effects of downsizing, look at what has happened to the Fullerton Public Library since 1991. In the 1990-91 fiscal year, the library budget was nearly $2.8 million and the library had 55.5 full-time employees. It circulated 1.27 million books.

Today the budget is $2.58 million with 43.3 employees and an annual circulation that continues to exceed 1 million items per year.

The Fullerton library has downsized, as the budget figures obviously indicate, but these changes have come at the cost of Sunday closing and consequent decreased hours at both the Main and Hunt branches; fewer new book purchases and less replacement of outdated volumes; the elimination of many periodicals; and the postponement of sorely needed electronic services to equip the library for the 21st century.

Drop into the children’s room some afternoon. It’s wall-to-wall kids of all ages, harried parents, volunteers and staff, all squeezed into a paltry few thousand square feet with hundreds of unshelved books. Yet the children’s room still circulates over a thousand books a day!

The Public Library remains one of the crown jewels of Fullerton, but it has continued providing this excellent public service only because of the dedication of the staff, the many volunteers and the untold contributions of the Friends of the Library and the Fullerton Public Library Foundation.

WILLIS E. MCNELLY

President

Fullerton Public Library

Board of Trustees