Measure A, which is set to expire on June 30, will continue the $33.66 annual tax assessment that single-family households are currently paying. These dollars account for 20 percent of the libraries' annual operating budget. A yes vote means the library can continue its present level of services. Measure B adds an additional $12 per year to restore cuts to library materials and services. Measure B can only go into effect if Measure A is approved. Both measures require two-thirds voter approval.

Asking taxpayers to contribute $45.66 a year is very little considering the wealth of educational materials freely available to every member of our community.

The Saratoga Library is now closed on Mondays and opens only 58 hours per week, spread over six days. Still, the library checks out more than 100,000 items per month and averages 1,416 visitors through its gates each day. Passage of the two companion measures would allow the library to extend its services and reopen on Mondays.

"People have been very supportive of this library," said Saratoga Librarian Dolly Barnes. "The support of the Friends of the Library has just been unprecedented for a community this size."

Without the passage of these measures, the doors to this institution will take another hit after June 30. Library officials don't even want to consider the consequences. Many important aspects of the library will be further reduced, including hours, services, staff and materials.

"We would have to cut to 36 hours per week, and then you become irrelevant," said Barnes. "We would be open shorter days, five days a week."

"In order to make cuts, you need to cut salaries," she added. "So we would have to cut the busiest hours. We would be open fewer evenings and fewer mornings, and both are crucial. Evenings are needed for students, and in the mornings were have our preschool stories and we get a lot of seniors."

A similar measure on the March 2004 ballot missed two-thirds approval by only 4 percent. "It was a presidential primary and there was so much else going on in California politics that the message about the library just didn't get out," said Barnes. "It was the very last item on a very complicated ballot."

Our state is taking away $10.7 million in property taxes that once went to fund our library, but Saratoga residents can stop some of the bleeding by voting yes. All a resident has to do is check his or her mailbox this week for their library ballot, vote and mail it back in the envelope provided. All ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on May 3. There is no trip to a polling booth. The entire process is via the post office. It can't get any simpler.

So watch out for that ballot. It was mailed April 4. This is not junk mail. It will come in a white envelope marked "Official Election Balloting Material--Mail Ballot."

Look it over and make your decision. And when deciding, think back to the day you got your first library card. The world it opened. The people you discovered. The places you traveled to, and the facts you never knew existed until you borrowed all those books for free. And then imagine what the world would be like without this amazing institution.