Losses in libraries

As a junior librarian, it is 11-year-old Cindy Ramos’ responsibility to spend time in the library, but the job isn’t tough for the fifth-grader. She loves to read.

Cindy used to spend many of her lunches and recesses helping out in Joseph R. Perry Elementary School’s library. She was there almost daily, but that changed this year.

The library’s tables are now empty, and its walls, lined with wooden shelves laden with children’s books, sit unused in the dark room several days a week.

The school’s librarian no longer works there. She was let go during budget cuts over the summer.

The five-day-a-week librarian was replaced with two librarians the school shares with others in the Huntington Beach City School District. The replacements come in three hours a week each, one on Wednesdays, the other on Fridays.

The reduction to library hours was a “big change,” Cindy said.

“It’s been kind of weird not to go every day to the library because that’s what I’m used to,” she said, adding, “I think they should open it every day.”

Perry is just one example of what happened across the district, and nearby Fountain Valley School District is considering taking similar measures. In Fountain Valley, officials described a proposal to reduce library staffing by half.

While the schools are having to slash their library services, the city had to do the same. Huntington Beach public libraries are running on a reduced operating schedule to help fill a revenue gap leaving students with less options to use library resources.

The cuts to Huntington Beach City School District librarians were part of a slew of reductions, pay decreases and pink slips handed out in June to stop a potential $21-million deficit over three years.

A number of bus drivers, night custodians and special education instructional assistants lost their jobs, and many more classified staff positions were reduced.

The district eliminated 50% of its library media technicians, one full-timer and four part-timers, and next year was slated to hand out pink slips the rest, but officials expressed concern about completely eliminating library services, said Lynn Bogart, district assistant superintendent of educational services.

The district is expected to maintain the 50% cut next year.

Libraries play a significant role in children’s lives and are more important than ever, Bogart said. They give kids a place to read, be read to and see adult role models, she said.

At Perry, they are making it work — one thing teachers have done a lot of lately.

Students have about 15 minutes in the library to get a book checked out, and educators have found ways to spend the time as efficiently as possible. Teachers and administrators are also helping students desperate for the next installment in a series get a new book by leaving a note for the librarian.

“We’ve made do, despite the budget cuts,” Principal Monique Van Zeebroeck said. “We don’t allow it to be felt by the kids.”

Jane Pascoo, a librarian at Perry and two other schools, said the last few months have been tough, but the district is doing everything it can for the kids and the librarians.

The students aren’t getting a lot of time in the library, but “it’s better than nothing,” she said. “We all love what we do, and we’ll do it at any cost.”

Schools are making it work, but Van Zeebroeck said she doesn’t know how much more they can sustain.

All the little cuts to education are part of a bigger problem and show a “lack of importance on education right now,” she said.

“We say we’re making do now, but what’s that going to look like in 10 years?” Van Zeebroeck said. “That’s the scary part.”