Photograph by Robert Scheer
All of these books and magazines need to be recycled to make room for new publications at the Saratoga Community Library, says librarian Dolly Barnes.
If you want to sit down at the Saratoga Library during rush hour, someone else has to stand up first. If librarian Dolly Barnes buys a book, she has to discard another book before she can find shelf space for it. And if a library worker needs to use a desk, well, he or she might just have to wait.
The 18-year-old, 18,000-square-foot library building is too small to store the growing inventory of books and other media, offer seating for patrons, and provide work space for the library staff. Members of the Library Commission say a bond measure may be on the horizon.
The book crunch will be discussed at the Saratoga Library Commission meeting set for Feb. 28. The possibility of a bond measure surfaced when the commission discussed the matter with City Council members at a Jan. 9 joint meeting. They agreed it could take several years to raise money for an expansion.
County budget cuts in 1993 shelved the bond proposed then to fund the needed expansion. Officials had to deal with more serious problems, such as restoring library hours reduced from 57 to 36 a week and a 75 percent cut in book-buying money.
Most library hours and book-buying funds were restored by Measure A. Voters approved that measure, proposing a $33-a-year property assessment, in November 1994.
But the Saratoga Library still bulges at the seams with its expanding collection of books and other media.
Barnes, as a result, makes room by discarding books.
"It's hard to throw away old mysteries," she said, "because people will still read them. But sometimes they have to go to make room for a new book, even if they are a lesser title by a popular author."
On top of deep-sixing some mysteries, Barnes truncated the magazine collection to include fewer back issues. She can't add important literature, especially poetry, because it would take away more popular books.
"We want to have poetry," she said. But "if it's not moving here, we need to get it out of our collection."
Various other problems confront the librarian daily.
Most seating areas shrank or disappeared in the last decade to make way for shelving.
"Just finding a seat at certain times of the day is a challenge," Barnes said.
Patrons have to stretch to get their books, because of the shortage of space. The eight-foot-high book shelves should be replaced with 6-foot stacks that would put the highest books just above eye level, Barnes said. But shorter shelves would mean more shelves, which would occupy more floor space.
Employees feel the squeeze as well. Many share desks in a single office that contains most of the staff.
The picture books in the children's section should be spread on special racks that display their colorful covers at just the right height for preschoolers to browse. But they are crammed side-by-side on adult-type shelves, to save space.
The library's fast-growing collection can be blamed for the crunch.
Although the Saratoga library was designed to hold 80,000 items, the collection expanded to include 152,472 books, CDs, videotapes and other media. It lends more than 50,000 titles each month, Barnes said.
Other West Valley libraries have comparatively more space. Although Saratoga's branch averages 8.4 items per square foot, three other branches average 6 to 6.3. The Campbell branch's 153,072 volumes rest in a 24,000-square-foot facility. Los Altos' 170,339 books are housed by a 28,050-square-foot library. The 37,000-square-foot Cupertino branch, the largest in the West Valley, contains 230,730 books.
Library Commission Chairwoman Sally Towse said the Saratoga Library should be doubled in size. The city will have to find the funds for any expansion; although the county runs the library, Saratoga owns the building.
A bond measure could pay for a new library wing, Towse said.
She guessed that corporations and Saratoga residents might give enough cash to start a bond drive if the Library Commission asked for it.
But neither a bond nor a fund drive could be completed soon.
"It would be a few years down the road, I imagine," Towse said.
The commission first has to update a needs assessment report that details the limitations of the old library building. The first draft of the plan, completed for the 1994 bond drive, took 18 months. Updating the document would not take as long, Towse said.
The commission will make more specific plans to update the assessment at its Feb. 28 meeting.
City Councilmember Ann Marie Burger said a bond measure is the only way to fund the expansion. But she cautioned that the city should wait for Saratogans to develop more confidence in the economy.
"Some day we would like to enlarge our library," Burger said. "But I don't see anything on the horizon. As bad as it is, there are some libraries in a lot worse shape than we are. I doubt the community would pay for it."
"Try not to get the community too excited about 'Here we come; we're going to ask for a library expansion,' " she warned a reporter. "We don't have any plans to do that."
Mayor Paul Jacobs told the Library Commission he would vote to put a bond measure on the ballot.
"The facility is too small, and it's outdated," Jacobs said. "I certainly would be in favor of the tax if the public wants it. I think it's a good thing."
Students feel the crunch the most, saying seats are rare after school lets out.
Courtney Carrol, a Saratoga High School senior, estimated the library is crowded on about half of her weekly studying visits. The crunch is worst between 3 and 5 p.m., she said.
"Usually it's really tough," Carrol said. "I'll have to go sit in the children's section where the tables are too small. It's not every day."
Saratogan Mary Johnson, who attends the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, sometimes faces the same seating shortage. Last Tuesday, she sat on a couch and used her lap for a desk, because all the tables in the library were taken.
The city will make the last payment on the existing building in nine years. The library was constructed by the city in 1978, with money produced by selling bonds. Saratoga uses the county library's lease payment to repay lenders who hold the bonds.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 14, 1996.
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