BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS

-- Mathis Winkler

Patrons will find it easier to use computers at Newport Beach public

libraries after officials for the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation

handed a $102,100 check to library trustees at Tuesday’s City Council

meeting.

Most of the money will be used to replace 23 computers at the central

library, add a digital microfilm scanner printing system and improve

technology resources for children, said Catherine Saar-Kranzley, who

co-chairs the board of trustees.

A small amount will also pay for new books, audio books and support at

the library’s Balboa branch.

Larry Spitz, the foundation’s president, said he hoped this would not

be the last check before the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

“This is the result of a great deal of effort,” Spitz said, adding

that more than 1,000 volunteers had helped to raise the funds.

Mayor Gary Adams said he was pleased to see trustees and foundation

members work together.

“It’s good to see that some of the rough times are in the past,” he

said.

In the fall of 1999 and last spring, the two groups fought bitter

battles over the spending of foundation funds. The controversy, which

almost sent trustees and foundation members their separate ways, subsided

after the former leaders of both organizations were replaced.