Rise and Fall of a Library Budget

Some library volunteers use stuffed animals to fill in the gaps in the bookshelves. Most of the library’s encyclopedias and other reference books are 3 to 5 years old. The number of magazine subscriptions has been cut by a third over the last year.

The state’s budget crisis has hit almost all local government agencies hard, but few have felt the sting as much as the San Bernardino County libraries.

Last year, the library system spent 93 cents per resident on books and material and this year is expected to spend 51 cents per resident. In contrast, the statewide average for spending on books in public libraries is $3.30 per resident.

In a nationwide survey conducted by the county, the San Bernardino County library system ranked at the bottom in most categories, including spending on materials, salaries and benefits and revenue from local governments. The survey compared libraries that have similar size populations, number of branches and library visitors, among other criteria.

Fearing the cuts will curtail the number of people visiting the library, San Bernardino County Librarian Ed Kieczykowski wrote to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday asking for an increase in library spending of at least $235,000 this year. The request came during a hearing in which the board was considering spending more than $30 million in reserve funds to make up for cuts imposed by the recently approved state budget.

Although the board postponed a decision on the budget and the library funding request, Supervisor Dennis Hansberger said he would support giving the library a one-time $925,000 increase. He said it doesn’t make sense to spend thousands of dollars to keep the libraries open when much of the material is out of date.

“I hate to go into the library and read the 2001 edition of Time magazine because it is the most current issue they have,” Hansberger said.

None of the other four supervisors addressed the library budget request, but Kieczykowski said he was cautiously optimistic.

The San Bernardino County library system has 29 branches, stretching from the desert community of Needles to the east, to the mining town of Trona in the north to more populated cities such as Grand Terrace in the south. For the most part, the libraries serve the poorest and most rural communities in the county, while many of the region’s wealthier, urban cities operate their own community libraries.

Library supporters say the budget cuts over the last few years are even more troublesome because the region’s population is rising. During the period that the library’s book budget was cut by 66%, from $1.8 million in 2000-01 to $585,095 this year, the population in the areas served by the library has increased 5%, according to county officials.

Kieczykowski said he has been able to avoid cutting library hours and staffing but he could not spare the books and materials. Kieczykowski said he has cut magazine subscriptions by one-third, eliminated several newspaper subscriptions and put off buying new reference books and encyclopedias. He plans to stop buying large-print books, videos, books on tape and foreign-language material.

The budget cuts may be to blame for a slight decline in recent years in the number of books borrowed from the libraries, Kieczykowski said.

“What is the point of having a library if there are no books on the shelf?” he said.

Library patrons and volunteers say the effects are seen in the gaps in the shelves, the publishing dates of the reference materials and the tattered condition of many of the books.

Charles Partin, president of the Friends of the Rialto Library, said he worries about the youngsters who must rely on the library for research material. “A lot of kids and teenagers try to get their homework done here, and they can’t get the reference material they need,” he said.

At the branch library in Trona, a tiny community near the Inyo County border, branch manager Joan Nordseth said her budget allows her to buy only three books per month. She said she also must rely heavily on donations and fund-raisers to buy a few copies of best-sellers.

At the Serrano Branch Library in the high desert community of Phelan, volunteers prop open books or use stuffed animals to fill the many gaps in the shelves, said Lenore Coale, president of the Friends of the Serrano Library.

Many of the patrons of the Serrano Branch Library receive government assistance and rely heavily on the library, Coale said. “For many of them, it’s not like they can go to Barnes and Noble and just buy new books,” she said.