Agoura Library to Cut Hours

Ryan Lee takes his 3-year-old son Hayden to the Agoura Hills Library's storytime every Tuesday at 11 a.m. As a regular at the local library, he's taking the reduction in hours there in stride. "They do what they have to do," he said.

Beginning July 12, the Agoura Hills Library will be closed on Mondays in addition to Sundays because of budget cuts. It will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10 a.m. - 8 p.m., Thursdays 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. , and Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Industrial consultant and college English professor Alex Slabo peruses the library once or twice a month to preview books for his home collection. Although he visits the library less often than he did when his kids were younger, Slabo has strong feelings about what he sees as bad governance.

"Bluntly, I think we should get them all out of office," he said. "What they should do is cut some of their own [government] jobs before they cut services."  

Although the library will be getting less money from property taxes and from the city's general fund in this fiscal year, for now it will be maintaining its same programming: storytime in the morning and afternoon on Tuesdays with different themes each week; a teen gaming competition; and computer instruction for seniors taught by local teens.

For most branches throughout the county, budget cuts will hit technology particularly hard.

"No new computers will be added, computers will not be updated on a regular basis as they become obsolete, repairs to computers may be delayed due to lack of funding [and] classes for the public will be reduced," said County Library Chief Deputy Terri Maguire.

There have been no employee layoffs at the Agoura Hills branch but the library is already running low on staff, which includes two full-time librarians and one full-time assistant librarian, in addition to a part-time community library manager.

"[The library is] already short three part-time people, and they are not going to be replaced," said Raya Sagi, former Agoura Hills Community Library Manager. 

A 20-year agreement, drafted when the Agoura Hills public library opened in October 2001, mandated a set of operating standards, including 60 hours of service over six days each week. A clause in the original draft allowed for budget cuts in the event of financial emergency, specifically a reduction to 50 hours over five days.

The possibility of 40 hours of four days was raised by Los Angeles County Library Regional Administrator Josefina Reyes in early May of this year. Library staff then sought advocacy from the city at the May 12 City Council meeting.

"There was nothing in the agreement about that," said former mayor and librarian Joan Yakovone, appealing to City Manager Greg Ramirez on behalf of the Friends of the Library. "There is some urgency to this, because the county is doing its budget right now…  and staff is up in the air."

Ramirez assured Yakovone, "We have every intention to represent the community's best interest regarding our wonderful library."

In response to the Friends of the Library and talks Ramirez had with the county, the county drafted a June 2 letter confirming that the contract stipulation of five days and 40 hours per week would be upheld. The letter also warned, however, that the hours of operation would force cuts in other areas, such as materials, which were not legally protected by the 2001 document. 

Without the Friends of the Library and private contributions, library patrons will notice fewer available periodicals as part of an overall reduction in all magazines and electronic resources, whose subscriptions and licensing fees prove too costly for the 2010-11 fiscal year. The collection includes approximately 152 magazine and newspapers, an extensive audiovisual collection of 8,207 audio recordings, and 9,894 video recordings, including DVDs.

Because the fiscal year is just beginning, branch staff could not comment on the practical effect beyond the summer. Friends of the Library is expected to continue to provide important support, which is aimed at offsetting a sag in public funding.