ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Library Patrons Check Out Horror Story : Reaction: Regular visitors, city officials and system employees fear losing their branches to coming cuts. Book buys and hours were slashed even before bankruptcy.

WESTMINSTER —  To 13-year-old Jackie Rodriguez, the Westminster branch of the county library is an oasis--a place where she can absorb herself in her studies and escape the hurried pace of the outside world.

The Willis Warner Middle School student says she spends about three hours a day there, devouring novels, thumbing through encyclopedias, looking at pictures of animals and checking out books to bring home for her 3-year-old sister.

“It’s real quiet and nice over here,” she said. “I’ve been coming here for about five years now. I just like it because they have a lot of good books to read and it keeps me out of trouble.”

On Wednesday--a day after the county announced a proposal to shut down six of its 28 branch libraries--Jackie and other library patrons throughout Orange County expressed fear that their neighborhood branches would be targeted.

County officials said they don’t know which branches might be closed, but library regulars--already angry about reduced hours and fewer books--said further cuts would be devastating.

“It’s going to be hard on kids,” said Jackie, who lives down the street from the Westminster branch. “A lot of kids do their research here, because the school library doesn’t have the quality of books they have here.”

Seal Beach, Garden Grove, Costa Mesa and Irvine are the only Orange County cities with more than one branch.

Because Seal Beach has three county libraries, city officials there say they will likely lose at least one branch. Of particular concern is the small Leisure World library, just outside the gated retirement community of 8,600 residents.

“This is a very important place for our residents,” said Seal Beach Mayor George Brown, who predicted that Leisure World residents would vigorously fight any attempts to close the branch. “Anyone who understands the aging process knows it’s essential to have a place to go and learn. We have a high circulation here. Seniors read a lot--and they vote too.”

Alissa Connally, 19, who stacks books at the Leisure World library, said the branch’s possible closure would be traumatic, not just because she and others would lose their jobs, but because people depend on the library.

“I think it would be terrible because so many people who come here are regulars and they spend the whole day here,” she said.

Clutching a book called “The New Medical Show,” Allan Hodgert said he comes to the library at least once a week to check out videos and look over the new books.

“We’re afraid that our library will be taken away,” said Hodgert, a Leisure World resident. “This is one of the most important things for seniors. It would be very inconvenient for older people if they had to find another library.”

In Garden Grove, which also has three county libraries, anxiety was also high among library patrons.

“I think it’s terrible,” said Ed Andonian while returning three movies he’d borrowed from the branch on Chapman Avenue. “I think libraries are essential for people who can’t buy books. Government can cut a lot of things, but they always start at things like libraries.”

Andonian said that he and his wife, who are retired, come to the Chapman Avenue library at least two or three times a week.

“My wife’s probably read half of the books on the shelves,” he said.

Holding a cookbook, a National Geographic magazine and a Herman Wouk novel, Marilou Laudenslayer said the closing of neighborhood libraries would hit the poor the hardest.

“A lot of lower-income people won’t be able to get transportation to the other libraries,” she said during a visit to the Chapman branch. “And it’s not fair to the kids. What are they going to do? Why do they always have to cut positive things?”

Despite being a regular library patron, Roy Rossey of Huntington Beach said he believes county officials are correct to cut libraries before eliminating essential county services.

“I think libraries are less important than the Fire Department, the police and the schools,” he said. “I love libraries, but you can’t cut them instead of schools.”

Rossey, however, has little to worry about--the library closest to his home is run by the city of Huntington Beach, not the county.

The county library system had about 5.5 million users in fiscal year 1993-94, the last year for which data is available.

The county system already has faced drastic cutbacks in recent years. In 1993, officials cut more than $6 million from the library budget, forcing a 40% reduction in hours, the elimination of 75 full-time positions and a 75% cut in new book and magazine purchases.

In January, county Librarian John Adams said his staff was considering various options for slashing costs, including further reducing hours and book purchases. The library system also is considering increasing book fines and fees and creating an independent fund-raising foundation to raise money.

Adams has said he expected to slash the system’s budget by 20%, from about $25 million in the current fiscal year to $20 million for the budget year beginning July 1.

The county also is considering a plan to put nine library branches up for sale in an effort to gain cash. Under the plan, the county would sell the branches to the cities where they are located or to private investors, who would then lease them back to the library system.

The prospect of a new round of library cutbacks has prompted some city officials to consider taking action of their own.

In Laguna Niguel, the City Council will review a plan to subsidize its county library branch--and maintain operating hours--during budget hearings later this year.

Other city officials have discussed the possibility of forming a joint powers authority that would take control of the library system from the Board of Supervisors. The JPA would be run by a board made up of leaders from cities served by the system.

The Orange County City Managers Assn. formed a special committee that for the last year has been examining the merits of forming such an independent agency, Irvine City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. said.