Thousand Oaks Library Begins New Chapter After Overhaul

The bright yellow buttons proclaimed, “We’re Home Again!”

And for the staff of the Thousand Oaks Library--chased out of the building by earthquake damage, a leaking roof and mold spores--Monday’s reopening of the city’s main branch was a homecoming of sorts.

“We’re just real excited to be back,” said Stephen Brogden, deputy director of library services.

The renovated building on Janss Road features new lighting, a new ceiling and new carpet. The collection of 320,000 books has undergone some rearranging, too: Biographies and nonfiction videos have been shelved among the other nonfiction materials. The children’s collection, periodicals, special collections and the gift store have all been moved. And the genealogy collection that had been housed at the Newbury Park branch has been added to the main branch.

There’s also a new CD-ROM collection and a new online system that can display the full text of magazine articles.

The reopening brings a sense of relief to patrons and staff, who have endured two years of chaos as the library closed, then opened, then closed its doors again.

“There’s a sense of permanence,” said Thousand Oaks artist Steve Newman, a frequent patron.

“It’s just a sense of relief,” said Kathy Cresto, senior librarian for collection development. During the move, she had to undertake tasks other than her usual job of ordering new and replacement books for the library. “Now, I can get back to work.”

The library first closed in January 1994, when the ceiling fell in during the Northridge earthquake. The building reopened about three months later, only to be damaged again by heavy rains.

To speed up repair work, the library collection was moved to 2400 Willow Lane while walls were removed and rebuilt. Tests conducted during the renovations showed that the earthquake and moisture had stirred up mold spores in the walls, posing health problems for workers there.

With work nearly complete, the Willow Lane facility shut down a month ago and the books were moved back to the main library.

Workers were putting the finishing touches on the security and air conditioning systems even as patrons browsed Monday morning. Brogden said the remaining work is strictly cosmetic and the library is fully functional.

“We just wanted to get open as soon as we could,” he said.

Finding things in the new library remains somewhat challenging because the stacks--or shelves where the books are kept--still have not been labeled.

As many as 300 boxes of books remain packed until new shelves can be brought in and some of the current collection has been checked out. Brogden estimated that a third of a library’s collection is usually in the hands of patrons.

Nancy Skewes-Cox of Thousand Oaks was particularly happy that she was able to get to the library before other patrons could check out books. “I’ve been looking forward to this,” she said. “Nobody’s been able to check anything out for a month [during the move], so everything is in the library. If you come tomorrow, it’ll be gone.”

Four-year-old Jenna Wurst, there to pick out books about Thanksgiving, declared the new library “cool.”

However, retiree Max Shain, 81, vehemently objected to much of the new layout. “Seems to be a lot of wasted space. I don’t like it,” he said, then gestured at the children’s area, which is now nearer the main entrance. “I can’t understand the logic of not isolating the children’s section. I think you want to protect the kids.”

He also said he had grown to like the Willow Lane location--after a few days of getting used to it.

“People get used to the way things used to be,” said Chris Stensvold, a reference librarian who also coordinates Internet services. While she expects that not everyone will be pleased by the new layout, she said that she has received good responses so far.

“It’s a nice library,” said Les Jenei, who came to look up some information. “It’s got a lot of resources.”