Measure S, which required a two-thirds vote to pass, squeaked by, with 66.88 percentage of voters agreeing to renew a $25-per-parcel annual tax. Revenues from the tax—first passed in 1994—are used to maintain and expand collections and programs in the San Jose library system, including the Willow Glen branch.

Deborah Herron, manager of the "Yes on Measure S" campaign, said her camp isn't breaking out the bubbly just yet. With their margin of victory at less than half a percentage point, supporters are holding their breath until the end of the month, when the county finishes tallying approximately 207,000 absentee and provisional ballots.

"It's difficult to determine how many of these ballots are going to be from San Jose," Herron said. "Getting two-thirds is a very difficult challenge."

While Willow Glen branch manager Ruth Kohan said she wasn't "jumping up and down" just yet, she added that she was buoyed by residents' support of Measure S.

"I was impressed by the number of lawn signs I saw around the community," Kohan added. "It was very heartwarming every time I drove by one."

Since the parcel tax was initially passed 10 years ago, the Willow Glen Library has purchased 69,700 new items with these funds. Almost a quarter of the library's materials budget—71 percent—came from parcel-tax funds in fiscal year 2002­03. In that year alone, the library purchased 10,300 new items, compared to 4,500 in 1994­95, before the parcel tax went into effect.

Willow Glen Library patrons have responded favorably to the improved collection, borrowing a record 355,594 items in 2002­03, an 87 percent increase in checkouts over 1994­95.

The library is slated for expansion within the next few years, and Kohan said parcel-tax monies will be especially critical in stocking the extra shelves.

According to Herron, San Jose's library system would lose $6.2 million a year in operating funds without the parcel tax and would have to decrease the number of new items purchased each year by about two-thirds at each of its 17 branches.

For now, library supporters remain hopeful that the results of last Tuesday's elections will hold up once the ballot count is certified so that San Jose's library system can remain intact. In an email message to her staff, Jane Light, director of San Jose's library department, wrote, "With every report we're gaining more votes, and we're hoping the trend will continue."

"There's every likelihood that we'll hold our position," Herron said.