With $55,714 less in county funding this year, the San Benito
County Free Library is once again trying to make do with the money
it has.
”
We’re just lucky to still have the doors open,
”
County Librarian Jo Wahdan said.
Hollister – With $55,714 less in county funding this year, the San Benito County Free Library is once again trying to make do with the money it has.
“We’re just lucky to still have the doors open,” County Librarian Jo Wahdan said.
Because of the cut, which is added to other cuts made throughout the past few years, Wahdan said she’s had to lay off a part-time librarian position, and cancel the bookmobile that traveled to rural schools in San Benito County allowing students in small towns access to library books.
“It’s sad,” Wahdan said about the educational service that has been around since 1982. “It’s (bookmobile) a vital service to the residents who live in rural areas of the county. They don’t have access to libraries in their areas and some of the schools, like Panoche and Bitterwater-Tully are more than an hour away from here.”
Tim William is the teacher/administrator at Bitterwater-Tully School, and he said the students miss having the bookmobile come out every other Wednesday.
“We looked forward to it coming out, and it was a wonderful that they had an outside source bringing books into the school,” he said. “It was hard trying to explain to them why it stopped coming.”
The county gave the library $474,754 in the 2003-2004 fiscal year, but has only allocated $419,040 for the coming year. Wahdan said the library has stretched its paid employees to the max. She relies on volunteers to help out during 30 of the 48 hours the facilities are open during the week, Wahdan said.
“I don’t know what we would do without them,” she said. “It’s because of the volunteers that we still have story time and supervision in the children’s reading area. We can’t afford to pay for a children’s librarian.”
County Supervisor Bob Cruz said cuts were taken by all government funded agencies, and as soon as the county has money again, so will they.
“It was a cut across the board that had to be made,” Cruz said. “When the economy improves, and the money is there again, one of the first places to see some funding will be the library.”
This isn’t the first time the library has worried about staying open. The library closed in 1991 because of a lack of funds, according to Wahdan. It remained closed for a year, but with the help of volunteers, she and others kept it open once a week so people could have access to the books.
Another way the library stays afloat is through the help of “Friends of the Library,” a nonprofit that helps raise money for services. For more information, or to find out how to donate, call 636-4107.
