The books on wheels program that began in the 1980s to serve
rural residents will come to a screeching halt later this month
because of state budget cuts.
The books on wheels program that began in the 1980s to serve rural residents will come to a screeching halt later this month because of state budget cuts.
The San Benito County Free Library Bookmobile program will temporarily be stopped beginning April 21, county librarian Jo Wahdan said.
“All these cuts have happened all in this last fiscal year,” Wahdan said. “The downfall is the people living in rural areas won’t have access to this service. Many of them are 50 miles away.”
Gov. Gray Davis’ decision to cut 40 percent of the Public Library Foundation budget, coupled with the county’s current hiring freeze, forced the reassignment of staff providing the outreach service back into the library.
Last year, the Bookmobile program logged more than 4,000 miles and attracted 2,506 patrons who utilized the service to check out 4,342 items.
“This will be bad this year for many people because we had to cancel,” Wahdan said. “Hopefully, the economy will turn around in the next six months or in a year, but with this huge deficit, we are not sure how long it will be suspended.”
The suspension of the service will affect 11 areas in the county, some as far away as the Pinnacles National Monument.
In addition, residents served by stops located at school sites will also lose the service, including Panoche, Bitterwater, Cienega and Southside schools.
“We really regret having to do this,” Wahdan said. “But with only seven full-time staff any loss of positions require we reassign our remaining people to the core activities at the library to maintain our basic public service to the majority of patrons, which is in the Hollister area.”
Wahdan said books that have been checked out still have to be collected and is getting the word out through the schools that a special trip to the sites will be made.
“We are encouraging parents to bring their kids in on Saturdays when they come into town to do their shopping,” Wahdan said.
The library is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday from 1-9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Library materials checked out from the bookmobile can also be returned to the library during regular hours or placed in the drop box out front.
For more information call the library at 636-4107.
