Orange County Voices : COMMENTARY ON LIBRARIES : Citizenry Must Be Mobilized to Save Access to Information : California appears to be heading toward the dubious distinction of having the nation’s worst public library system.

The residents of Orange County are increasingly becoming aware of both the sorry plight of their public libraries and the importance of the libraries in providing access to information to the free society we all cherish.

The Orange County Public Library, with its 27 branches serving both cities and unincorporated areas in the county, has been drastically hit by diminished funding allocations. Twenty-four branches are open only four days each week, averaging 32 hours of service. City libraries located within the county have also undergone budget cuts in the past three years.

Orange County is not alone in facing these drastic losses of critical public services--public libraries throughout the state are closing or slashing hours, canceling magazine subscriptions and eliminating book budgets. The problem is magnified by the fact that expenditures for school libraries in California already rank 50th in the nation. California’s future leaders and citizens are growing up in a society that states, by its funding decisions, that information, culture and the heritage of those who preceded us has little or no importance in their lives.

In like manner, communities and businesses are deprived of critical current information to fuel the economic development of the state.

California appears to be headed toward the dubious distinction of having the worst public library service in the nation.

Diametrically opposed to the current status of California libraries are the results of an independent 1994 California Voters Opinion Poll, conducted by David Bender Research, San Francisco, which showed that:

* 95% of California voters believe that libraries play an essential role in the education of children.

* 91% agree that public libraries are essential to the quality of life in their community.

* 81% agree that the state should ensure adequate funding for local libraries (80% agreeing that funding should come from both local and state governments).

* 59% stated that government spends too little on libraries.

This is the good news that concerned community leaders and citizens must use as a call to action to save California libraries.

There are also pockets of successful community actions around the state where concerned citizens have found methods to provide public support for important library service.

In June, 1993, Pasadena voters overwhelmingly approved additional fees for the support of their public library. Last month, five California communities--Albany, Altadena, Oakland, San Francisco and South Pasadena--passed measures by large margins in support of libraries; the lowest level of support of any of the measures was 69%.

The County of Los Angeles Public Library has just announced the submission of a proposal for a community facilities district, a funding mechanism under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act that would levy annual charges on properties within the district, based on the estimated benefit to the property from library services. Pending in the State Legislature is Senate Bill 1448, providing for establishment by local jurisdictions of library benefit assessment districts, a revision of a similar bill approved in 1993, but vetoed by the governor.

In Orange County, concerns for quality library services have been voiced in a variety of manners. Two cities serviced by the Orange County Public Library have taken action to evaluate alternate methods of providing library service to their residents.

Mission Viejo has negotiated to formally withdraw from the county system, but contracted for service from the county library until a new city library can be built. The new library will be partially funded by a recently founded Mission Viejo Library Foundation.

Laguna Hills has recently commissioned an independent municipal consultant to study library services to its city residents. And Huntington Beach recently dedicated an addition to the main library, developed with residents’ support.

In Newport Beach, which has a city library system funded by the city’s general fund, a new Central Library facility has just been opened, financed in part by $2 million raised by a citizens’ group, the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation.

In the successful cases noted, citizen support has coalesced to improve the quality of library services provided in the respective cities. Such sites of strong active support for public libraries in California are exemplary and commendable, but tend to be solitary lights on a dreary horizon. These particular success stories impact direct library service to less than 2 million people in a state of 30 million residents.

Pockets of library excellence cannot meet the information needs of California’s diverse, immense and geographically dispersed population. Citizen action is urgently needed on a statewide basis.

In Orange County, the issue is not whether cities within the county system should seek to remove themselves from the Orange County Public Library system, but rather how to mobilize all the citizenry to action to save all the public libraries of the county and the state.