Santa Ana Library...the fee's knees

The miserable Santa Ana Library charges $2 for each DVD or VHS checkout, and starting July 1st our lovely city kicked in a 50-cent fee for CD checkouts. Although I'm a Santa Ana resident, these fees are partly why I patronize the City of Orange Public Library way more frequently. No charge for DVDs or CDs there.

The Santa Ana budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year is revealing. According to the budget, last fiscal year's library rental charges only amounted to a skimpy $5,870 for the city coffers. That divides out to about 56 movie checkouts each week. Total. For a city with a population hovering about the 350,000 mark.

Newsflash to the Library Board and the Library Executive Director...uh, I mean the Parks and Recreation Executive Director, because the Library Department was just swallowed up by Parks and Rec...you will take in more library revenue if you eliminate the DVD/VHS/CD fees, which would increase circulation, and inevitably lead to late returns and late fees! How do you think video stores make the big bucks? (Pssst...l a t e f e e s.) I'm constantly coughing up a dollar here and a dollar there at the Orange Library because of my forgetfulness, so you can say I'm personally funding a decent film and music selection in my friendly neighboring city to the northeast.

Santa Ana LiBarely

I'm still upset with the Santa Ana Library. The old bad news...we're down to two libraries in a city of over 350,000 residents.

Now I'm looking at the budget approved by the Santa Ana City Council for the fiscal year starting July 1st, and it looks like the axe just kept chopping away. The department will be merged into the Parks and Recreation Department, music CDs will be 50 cents for each checkout, adult funding will be reduced 24%, children funding will be reduced 40%, adult material acquisitions will be slashed from an already low 5,400 items to a paltry 2,200 new items...and on and on...

Last week I stopped by the Main Library, and the house was packed! In these shaky economic times we need more library materials and services, not the barebone joke we've been served.

Santa Ana Library doesn't stack up!

As cities throughout California have beefed up their library services in recent years, as California voters approved a $350 million state library construction bond, as the neighboring City of Orange more than doubled the floor area of their main library to 45,000 square feet, the City of Santa Ana has done nothing. Unless you count slashing the bookmobile service.

Santa Ana is the 9th most populous city in California. I compared Santa Ana's library system (focusing on number of libraries in relation to population) with the 8 California cities with more residents than Santa Ana and the 8 cities just below Santa Ana in population.

The result...

The only large city in California with as pathetic a library record as Santa Ana is Modesto. Holy cows, what an embarrassment!

City	Population	Libraries	Residents per Library
Los Angeles	3,834,340	72	53,255
San Diego	1,266,731	36	35,187
San Jose	939,899	19	49,468
San Francisco	764,976	25	30,599
Fresno	470,508	12	39,209
Long Beach	466,520	12	38,877
Sacramento	460,242	15	30,683
Oakland	401,489	18	22,305
Santa Ana	339,555	2	169,778
Anaheim	333,249	6	55,542
Bakersfield	315,837	8	39,480
Riverside	294,437	6	49,073
Stockton	287,245	5	57,449
Chula Vista	217,478	4	54,370
Modesto	203,955	1	203,955
Fremont	201,334	4	50,334
Irvine	201,160	3	67,053

Library, library, quite contrary

I've heard way too many excuses for Santa Ana's failed library "system", now down to the Main Library and the Newhope Library Learning Center. Apologists point to the housing slump, bleak tax revenue, public safety funding that should override other city services, and on and on. Yes, crime is up. The recent high-profile shootings are horrible. But why can't the city leadership see the direct connection between libraries, literacy, education, and jobs?

A strong library system is a sign of a healthy city. A city council that supports improving libraries - expanding hours, adding services, staffing highly qualified librarians, rehabilitating facilities, expanding libraries, constructing new libraries - is a city council that supports creativity, child development, adult literacy, skill development, gang intervention, safe learning, and employment.

Let's look at the Santa Ana City Council. If the economy is up or down, doesn't matter, the Council has gutted the libraries to fund other priorities. Even the bookmobiles were stripped of their funding! How long do the councilmembers think the current economy will be in the doldrums? They're not even willing to start planning for better times. As long as improving the library system is off the table, we're stuck with another symbol of a sick city.

We need libraries now more than ever.

Santa Ana Library Charges for Movies!

The Santa Ana Public Library "system" (does a main library and a single "library learning center" qualify as a "system"?) is screwed up for many reasons, but for now I'll focus on the film collection. Their selection of DVD and VHS movies is abysmal, and the tapes are haphazardly organized on rotating wire racks. (Sure, I still watch VHS if I can't get my hands on the DVD version.)

There are a few movies at the Santa Ana Main Library I wouldn't mind checking out, if it weren't for the jacked up fees they charge. Get this...$2.00 each! What a rip! That's effective July 1, 2008 at the start of the new budget year, up from $1.50 each checkout. That 50-cent increase is a 33% increase...crazy! I can walk over to my closest video store, Videosky, and pay $1.50 for a movie rental. Come on, Santa Ana...free library idealism aside, you need to at least compete with the local video rental shops! And consider that Santa Ana isn't exactly swarming with folks in the position to cough up $2 for a library movie. About 16% of all Santa Ana households are living below the poverty level. Compare that to 7% overall in Orange County. Nice, huh? We earn less, but the City of Santa Ana sticks us with higher fees.

That's another reason why I rarely patronize the Santa Ana Library. I may be a Santa Ana resident, but I take my library business to the City of Orange. They have an extensive movie selection at the Orange Main Library on Chapman, they issued me a library card at no charge, and their film checkouts are free! Thank you, Orange.