By Rebecca Wicks
Ventura Breeze
Apr. 20, 2011

Ventura librarians recent past has been in a word: rocky. While none lost their jobs with the closing of the H.P. Wright Library, the task of combining staff, resources and in some cases books themselves has been a tedious one. Now, it looks as if the future of Ventura librarians may become even more tumultuous as the city talks more seriously about major changes including the possibility of turning the reigns over to a private company.

Earlier this month the Ventura City Council okayed the hiring of a library consultant who will analyze and make recommendations about how to best manage the city’s libraries in the future. The council agreed to pay consultant MaryEllin Santiago upwards of $70,000 to complete the job. The monies will come from library trust funds.

With library funding having been chipped away at over recent years, a number of cities across the nation have been forced to consider alternative ways of maintaining library service for their residents. A final blow was delivered to Ventura when it learned the Board of Supervisors terminated the funding arrangement between its libraries and the county, effective the first week of April.

Ventura will most likely be looking at four main options.

The first option is for the two city libraries – E.P. Foster and Avenue Library – to stay in the county library system. This would entail the city renegotiating a payment strategy with the county.

A second choice is for Ventura to break from the county library system and manage a city-run library. Nearby Oxnard and Thousand Oaks currently operate their own libraries.

A third possibility is for the city to break from the county library system and combine management responsibilities with other groups such as the school district or Ventura College.

The fourth and final option would be to leave the county library system and hand over supervision and day-to-day management to a private company. The cities of Camarillo and Moorpark opted to do just this in recent years. Library Systems & Services Inc. (LSSI) now operates both libraries.

It is unclear whether any of these changes will mean improved library services for Venturans. In the past, being a part of the larger county system meant patrons had access to books and materials from any and all libraries in the county. However the breadth of what is available has dwindled in recent years as cities have removed themselves from the county system.

“The sad thing is in all four scenarios, the possibility of residents getting better library services is most likely slim,” said a Ventura librarian who asked not to be named. “Any and all moves would most likely be an attempt to keep library services from diminishing – if they can do that.”

The process of sorting out the pros and cons of each of the four options is a task that is expected to take consultant MaryEllin Santiago up to six months to complete. She describes what she will deliver to the city as a roadmap of different options.

Describing the job as a multi-step process, Santiago is optimistic about getting the public involved.

“We’re not talking about whether we want the library to have pink or green walls, we’re talking about the public adding real input about key components of what they want,” said Santiago. “We plan to gather feedback from every population group.”

Awareness by and communication with the public was one of the main reasons Assemblyman Das Williams whose district includes Ventura introduced a bill that would mandate residents vote on whether their public library is run by a private firm. The measure was approved by the Assembly Local Government Committee last week and is now moving on to the Appropriations Committee.

If passed, this bill may affect how Ventura proceeds with its library services, making the path toward a private company managing libraries a possibly more difficult one to follow.

The bill is supported by a number of groups and labor unions including AFL-CIO, the California Teachers Association, the California Labor Federation and SEIU.

Lobbyists for the League of California Cities which is supported in part by LSSI are opponents to the bill. A former city council member of the city of Redding has also stated his concern against the bill saying in his city’s case, the library would have closed if they weren’t able to outsource management to a private company.

Santiago’s findings and recommendations will be delivered to the city in September.