Library May Receive Center Sale Funds
The City Council will consider using some of the proceeds from the sale of the Dorrill B. Wright Cultural Center to upgrade the Ray D. Prueter Library.
The city sold the center last week for $1.1 million--half of what the center cost when it was built in the 1980s--and on Wednesday the council said it would consider using accrued interest from the sale, which should be about $65,000 per year, on the library.
The city already gives the county-operated library $40,000 a year in subsidies.
A proposal written by City Manager John Velthoen called the library’s book and periodical collection minimal at best. Computers and better programs, he said, would attract more people to the library.
Velthoen cited a study that said adequately funded libraries spend $35 per capita per year. Even with the city’s help, Prueter operates on $19 per capita per year.
Cathy Thomason, Prueter’s librarian, said budget cuts began wearing down the collection eight years ago. Periodicals, reference material, fiction and nonfiction need updating, Thomason said.
“Additional [money] would let us buy material where there are now gaps,” she said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
