Pages of the Past

From 1881 to 1920, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie spent much of his time handing out money to city leaders who showed an interest in providing their towns with libraries.

Richard B. Haydock, Oxnard’s mayor, raised his hand enthusiastically, and the rest is 90-year-old history.

Even before Carnegie donated money for libraries in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, his $12,000 grant to the city of Oxnard served as the foundation for the first Oxnard Public Library building.

On Saturday, the library, which has changed headquarters twice and added two branches since its Carnegie days, will host a 90th anniversary celebration that will take a long look at the past and a glimpse into the future.

Delores Bensor, who has been with the library for the last third of its life, has been selected to emcee the program. She’ll be joined by local history librarian Brenda Crispin, Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez and Joanne Kennedy, a member of the California State Library Board, who will help unveil the library’s new Internet terminals.

Historical exhibits, including a photo history of the library, antique telephones, quilts and a collection of American best sellers of the 20th century--”The Great Gatsby” and “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” among them--will on on display.

But the focus Saturday will be on the library itself, which has withstood threats of budget cuts, shorter hours of operation, demands of the information superhighway, earthquakes and other acts of humanity and nature over the years.

“The philosophy of the library has always remained the same,’ Crispin said. “To provide a free public library where people of all walks of life have access to information and recreational reading.”

When Oxnard opened its library doors and made 5,000 books available for the first time on May 15, 1907, it joined a large and growing list of communities with Carnegie-funded libraries.

Carnegie money, about $46 million of it, helped build more than 1,600 public library buildings in more than 1,400 towns throughout the United States between about 1881 and 1920.

“If a city could agree to staff and fill a library, Andrew Carnegie would build the building,” Crispin said. “They just had to have a lot to build it on and agree to spend $1,000 a year to maintain the library.”

Oxnard’s Carnegie building held its own through 1963, when a rapidly expanding collection--a necessity to serve a rapidly growing population--forced the library out of its quarters. Library staff packed up their belongings, and with the help of some neighbors, moved equipment, furniture and about 50,000 books to a larger facility at 3rd and C streets. The original building now houses the Carnegie Cultural Arts Center.

Bensor remembers the move well.

“At the time, the city had its own jails and we used the residents of the city jail to help us load the books from the street to the truck,” Bensor said. “We were closed a week. They had an auction at the time, mostly furniture that we didn’t move, like heavy oak tables, and they used it as a fund-raiser for the new building.”

It was at the C Street location that the Oxnard Public Library entered the computer age, with the introduction of automated cataloging and personal computers.

“From the ‘70s to the ‘90s we were pretty fat, things were pretty good with revenue and taxes,” Bensor said. “We were open seven days a week, Monday through Friday, 9 to 9.”

And with increased usage came increased growth, and once again the library outgrew its home.

Ground was broken in 1990 and construction completed in 1992 on the library’s current residence, at 251 South A St. At 72,000 square feet, the new facility is designed to hold 500,000 volumes. Bensor said the present collection stands at about 275,000.

Having worked at the library for 35 years, Bensor remembers not only the days when there were far fewer books, but she also remembers a lot of things that now are just a part of the library’s lengthy history.

Bensor recalls the long-idle book mobile, which traveled the community from 1956 to 1989 and which she herself drove from 1961 to 1978. She remembers the 1973 Sylmar earthquake that shook many of the C Street library’s books off their shelves. She remembers folks she introduced to the library as children who are now successful adults in the community.

Though the Oxnard Public Library has changed in size and shape over the years, Bensor said, its role in the community has for the most part remained the same.

“We still have a small-town atmosphere,” she said. “Our clientele is much more sophisticated than it used to be, but we still have those who want to come in and read a good book. The library has always been a center of the community.”

Bensor said an average of 1,000 to 1,500 clients pass through the library’s gates each day. It’s a nice count, she said, but as far as she’s concerned it could be better.

“We’re very fortunate the community supports us even though our hours have been cut back,” she said. “But I don’t believe we’re reaching as much of the population as we could be. Our financing is such that we really need our professionals in the building, offering day to day service, so our community outreach is not as strong as it could be.”

The library may see an increase in its public usage with the introduction of three Internet terminals, which staff will demonstrate at the anniversary party. One terminal will be set up in the children’s area of the library with the other two in the reference section. Training will be available to the public for about one hour each Wednesday afternoon.

“The terminals will be accessing everything that’s out there,” said librarian Steven Alcorta, the resident Internet expert. “We expect increased use of all the resources here as a result of this. Finding that they can get information from our library as well as other libraries, we hope will cause people to keep coming back.”

The Internet is the latest in research innovation. But as Crispin said, it’s all in keeping with the library’s original purpose.

“Information is becoming available through technology in addition to the printed form,” said Crispin, head of the library’s Internet team. “We can’t ignore that. We have to go with that and make those other resources available to the public and try to close the gap between what we call the information haves and have nots.”

BE THERE

Anniversary--Oxnard Public Library’s 90th anniversary celebration at 10 a.m. Sat. at 251 South A St., Oxnard. There will be a historical presentation, exhibits, entertainment, a costume party and refreshments. Free. Information: 385-7522, or see Internet site https://www.oxnard.org/opl.html