Local Libraries Facing Reduced Operating Hours

Budget issues force the Carpinteria, Montecito and Solvang libraries to close Mondays starting July 13

The Solvang Library is one of three in the Santa Barbara Library System facing reduced hours. The Solvang, Montecito and Carpinteria libraries will be closed on Mondays effective Wednesday
The Solvang Library is one of three in the Santa Barbara Library System facing reduced hours. The Solvang, Montecito and Carpinteria libraries will be closed on Mondays effective July 13. (Laurie Jervis / Noozhawk photo)

By Laurie Jervis, Noozhawk Staff Writer | Published on 06.25.2009

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Three libraries within the Santa Barbara Public Library system will have their hours of operation reduced come July. The changes in hours are a result of budget limitations that come with the new fiscal year, which begins Wednesday, a library official said Thursday.

The Carpinteria, Montecito and Solvang libraries will be closed Mondays, beginning July 13, said Sarah Rosenblum, library services manager for the city of Santa Barbara. In addition, the Goleta Library will open at 2 p.m. Mondays instead at 10 a.m., beginning Wednesday, and the Bookmobile, which traveled to local schools and community centers, will cease service that day, she said.

Whether the library system will be forced to make further cuts in hours for the various sites “is hard to say at this point,” Library Director Irene Macias said Thursday.

The Goleta branch library, which previously announced a change in hours on Mondays and weekday evenings, is “pretty set for now,” Macias said. The Goleta branch will open at 2 p.m. instead of 10 a.m. on Mondays, and will close at 8 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. weekdays. These changes are also effective Wednesday.

Current hours for all branches of the library system are available on the Web site, Macias said.

Availability of the Bookmobile regularly slowed during summertime when local schools were on break, but it was still put to use during summer camps, and the Fun in the Sun program, Macias said. Despite the Bookmobile’s forced hiatus, the library system will strive to continue serving those who relied on access to the library on wheels.

“We will still be making contact with those populations,” she noted.

The Bookmobile provided information services, reading materials and educational resources to residents unable to visiti regular South Coast libraries because of transporation or economic barriers. The staff of the mobile library promoted literacy, a desire to read, children’s programs and storytelling, and worked to generate a positive image of the library by being visible in various communities, according to the library systems Web site, www.sbplibrary.org.

In addition to the reductions in hours at selected libraries, some fee and policy changes, approved by the Santa Barbara City Council, also will become effective Wednesday:

» For each hold placed, a 50-cent fee will be automatically charged to the patron’s account when the item becomes available, whether or not the item is picked up. Children’s materials will continue to be reserved for free.

» Holds will be limited to 20 at a time per patron.

» There will be a charge of $15 for materials requested through interlibrary borrowing from outside the Black Gold Cooperative Library System.

In addition to the budget-mandated changes in hours, all library facilities will be closed July 3-4 for the holiday.

— Noozhawk staff writer Laurie Jervis can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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» Anabel Ford wrote on 06.26.09 @ 12:30 AM

The libraries such an important resource and it is a sad state to see that this access limited.  Our system of public support for education so vital to the development of of future citizens is being forsaken.  We need to make greater commitments of our public goods—yes more taxes—if we are to maintin a society that is vital in the future.

» elizabeth wrote on 06.26.09 @ 03:05 AM

Please,I would like to know how the library will be able to continue help to those shut ins affected by the termination of the bookmobile.

» John Locke wrote on 06.26.09 @ 05:24 AM

so make a personal contribution.  take up a collection. DO something.

» Hire voluteers its free??? wrote on 06.26.09 @ 08:20 AM

The unions are destroying government, just like everything else. lower wages 30% and take no days off. Furloughs are not the awnser—-its a scam, and the taxpayer is losing service days because of union greed.

» Lee Moldaver wrote on 06.28.09 @ 11:51 AM

A very sad announcement. Given the dire condition of south coast government revenue
it is not unexpected.

Library management has been doing non-stop contingency planning to try to buffer
the shortfalls. But when the worst recession since the 1930s is mauling America, and
is even worse here in California, no tax-supported operation can be immune to cuts
... if the tax revenues aren’t there.

The community must insist that present cuts be fully restored, as soon as the crisis
has passed.

 

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