Library Patrons Can Now Check Out the Internet

Welcome to Cyberbia.

Free Internet access has wound its way into the reference sections of every public library in Ventura County.

Armed with a newly won grant from the California State Library system, county officials in recent days have been busy installing two computers wired for Internet access in each of six branches: the Fillmore, Ojai and Simi Valley libraries; and the Avenue, E.P. Foster and H.P. Wright branches in Ventura.

Coupled with donations from Friends of the Library groups around the county, the new grant means that every library in Ventura County now offers free access to the Internet on at least one computer with just the flick of a library card and the click of a computer mouse. Other public libraries in the county already had Internet access.

“It’s awesome,” library spokeswoman Trish Cavanaugh said Monday. “People are just loving it. I had one man, he put his hands together in prayer position and thanked me three times.”

Still, with tens of thousands of library patrons from Ojai to Oak Park, the county’s libraries have a way to go before meeting all the Internet needs, she said.

Even at the Wright branch in Ventura, where a separate grant recently funded the purchase of 11 computers with Internet access, a check on Saturday found every computer occupied, Cavanaugh said.

She said library officials and boosters will continue to seek donations to increase Internet access.

“Camarillo and Simi Valley should have more computers than they’ve got, given the size of the communities,” she said. “That’s my next goal.”

Under the $5,000 State Library grants doled out to each of the six branches, officials have also been able to purchase unlimited Internet access through Pacific Bell and training for one librarian and one community partner.

Bob Lipman, an active member and former president of the Friends of the Simi Valley Library, said the branch needs several more computers to meet the needs of the community.

“There are a lot of people that use the library and we have two computers for that many people,” he said. “Two computers and we have 75,000 library cards.”

Throughout next week, five branches plan ceremonies and open houses to welcome the new technology and help card holders learn how to use it:

* H.P. Wright Library, Monday, 3 to 7 p.m.

* Fillmore Library, Jan. 28, 11 a.m. Mayor Donald Gunderson and Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long will attend.

* Avenue Library, Jan. 29, 4 p.m. Ventura Mayor Jim Friedman and county Supervisor Susan Lacey will be on hand.

* Ojai Library, Jan. 31, noon to 5 p.m.

* Simi Valley Library, Jan. 31, 10 a.m. to noon. Mayor Greg Stratton and county Supervisor Judy Mikels will introduce the new technology.

Lipman said members of the nonprofit Friends of the Library group are continuing to seek other grants to create a homework center for fourth- to eighth-graders at the Simi Valley branch.

The center would not just link students to the vast amounts of information available on the Web but provide adult volunteers to help students make sense of it.