Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Drive Aims to Keep Periodicals at Libraries : Budget: Community groups are urged to sponsor magazine and newspaper subscriptions at financially strapped Santa Clarita branches.

Hundreds of magazines and other publications will no longer be available in the Santa Clarita Valley’s three libraries unless businesses and community groups sponsor them, according to organizers of a subscription drive.

Friends of the Library of the Santa Clarita Valley is asking merchants and residents to adopt newspapers, magazines and other periodicals--paying to renew the subscriptions--so the publications will remain on library shelves.

The Canyon Country, Newhall and Valencia libraries are among the 88 Los Angeles County branches affected by cuts in the 1993-1994 county budget.

Cutbacks have forced 54 facilities to close, and the 34 remaining branches have reduced hours by more than half.

The Canyon Country and Newhall branches are now open 14 hours a week and the Valencia Library is open 21 hours a week because of the reductions.

“Mose people don’t realize how much the libraries have lost until they go,” said Kim Schaffer, Friends of the Library vice president.

Valencia National Bank, which has agreed to adopt three publications, is coordinating the sponsorship drive.

“We at the bank use the libraries from time to time for the banking industry,” said Gail Pinsker, bank spokeswoman. “As a local business, we are concerned about the future of our local libraries, particularly the periodical department, which is a valuable resource for students as well as business people looking for up-to-date information on particular topics.”

Organizers encourage sponsoring a publication that fits an area of interest, such as a car dealership adopting a magazine about automobiles or a school class adopting a periodical that refers to a subject students are studying.

No specific goal has been set for the drive, which runs through Jan. 15.

“Each call I get, as far as I’m concerned, is exceeding our goal,” Pinsker said.

More information is available by calling Valencia National Bank at (805) 254-9900.