Saratoga News Library's future needs patrons' support By Sally Towse One of the things I love about our town is the support for the Saratoga Community Library. Have you visited recently? Did you noticed the hum, the action, the energy... the cramped quarters, the books waiting to be shelved, the busy circulation desk? Our 20-year-old library was built to house 80,000 to 100,000 volumes but now has 165,000 and approximately 8,000 magazines. "Six quarts in a one-gallon hat," our space consultant said. Seating space is in short supply. What was once open space is filled with book shelves and tables. New book purchases are offset by discards because we have no more room. In 1991, the Library Commission made liberal projections for the library's needs in 2005; we estimated monthly circulation of 45,000. This past July, circulation was over 79,000. Usually a slow month, August's circulation was almost 78,000, over 11 percent more than 1997. Increased circulation means more people in the library, more people in checkout lines, more cars in the parking lot, more staff needed to handle more patrons and more room needed to process new and returned material. Our library needs more space and needed it yesterday. Library supporters who want our library to be the best it can be should join in, volunteer to help raise private funding or pass a bond to add more space! Cupertino is planning to replace its library, which is twice the size of ours. Mountain View has a new library. Sunnyvale is doing extensive remodeling. This past year, library commissioners visited local libraries which had added space or built new, from Redwood City and Tiburon to Pleasanton and Vaca-ville to Menlo Park and Los Altos, which, like Saratoga, nestled its library in a heritage orchard. My wish list for our library? I want more space! I want a group study area with double-paned glass like Los Altos--a popout into the orchard where you feel you're reading amidst the trees. I want a quiet study area, too. I want room to sit and read, space in the children's area for programs. I want our hardworking staff to have room to do their jobs. The Library Commission was excited by the possibilities, but a survey last fall indicated Saratogans weren't aware of the stresses on the library and wouldn't support a bond. Folks bothered by teens and noise didn't realize cramped quarters and a lack of study areas exacerbate the problems. The library staff does such an amazing job coping with increased usage within an inadequate facility that voters don't know a problem exists. The commission reluctantly tabled plans for a bond and is focusing on ways to utilize the current facility even more intensely. The Friends of the Saratoga Libraries and the Saratoga Community Library Foundation are at hand to raise needed money. The county library paid for a space consultant to advise us on how to use the space we do have. Mr. Rohlf will present his report to the city on Oct. 20. Come! Listen! Join us. Advise us. Work with us to create a Saratoga Library for the 21st century. Sally Towse is a Saratoga Library commissioner. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 14, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.