March 2009
American Libraries
by Elizabeth Martinez
The 2005 financial crisis in Salinas, California, gained national attention when the childhood home of author John Steinbeck, one of America’s Nobel Prize winners, closed all its public libraries. Now Salinas Public Library is open seven days a week.
We are open with a Digital Arts Lab, a “U Name It Lounge” for young adults, a Literacy Center, bookmobile, new computer ILS, blogs, “Dinner in the Stacks” events, a $713,899 federal grant, renovation of two libraries and expansion plans for new facilities, and ready to celebrate a centennial in 2009. student in Salinas’s schools a library card.
One of the local superintendents asked us to start with her school, but said that we couldn’t use an application form because her families wouldn’t return it. She asked us if we could use the school address for all the students in all her schools, saying that she would be responsible for the books. So we eliminated the application form, designed a card for her school district with their logo and colors, and printed all the cards for the district’s list of students, per class per grade per school. Library staff then went to each class in each school and gave the students their card. Last year we completed two school districts, 24 schools, and gave out 15,551 library cards. By the end of June 2009 we will have given all 35,000 students in Salinas’s schools a library card.
Knowing that technology and computers were not readily available in Salinas, and that there was a big interest in graphic and digital arts, and technology skills, we opened a Digital Arts Lab at the Steinbeck Library with Mac computers and software for filmmaking (Final Cut Pro), music composition (GarageBand), and other software for photography and graphic design. Classes and mentors from local colleges are available during the week. The “U Name It Lounge” at the Steinbeck Library features a plasma screen with Xbox, and high and low furniture. It was developed after a consultant study with focus groups and surveys by Professor Anthony Bernier of San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science.
How could the library come back so strong in so short a time? Where did the funds come from? In November 2007, two months after I was named director, I presented to the city council a vision of the future, the goals and priorities for 2008. Funds were identified in Measure V, capital projects, and a number of accumulated donation accounts so that all the goals and priorities were accomplished. There was some resistance. Fortunately, those who claimed that library traditions were being destroyed, or that the collection was suffering due to lack of stewardship, or that the emphasis was on people not books, or that the priority was residents not employees, or who said that the public didn’t really want some of these new services, or that public funds were being misspent were outnumbered by the residents of Salinas who embraced changes and new programs and services with gratitude and praise.
How did we come back so strong so fast? It was leadership on the part of many key players– a mayor who really believes and states often how libraries can save the planet, a city council and Measure V Committee that support the library as a budget allocation priority, Friends of the Salinas Public Library watchdogs, residents cheering the changes, and a team of expert managers to restore and redesign the library I always envisioned. It was also trust by the politicians and stakeholders in the community who left the development and decisions about the library to the director.
The local newspaper listed the top 10 events in Monterey County in 2008; the @ Learn more at www.salinas.lib.ca.us Salinas Public Library opening seven days a week was number nine.
What’s next? How will the economic crisis impact the library? The expansion of the Chavez Library to double its size is a priority in 2009, as is the IMLS grant, which will explore the area’s cultural past, present, and future through a series of activities and events focused on reviving Salinas’s civic life, promoting lifelong learning, and supporting community-development efforts.
The City of Salinas is going to experience financial problems this year. Yet the library is expected to continue to be open seven days a week due to allocated Measure V funding and strong community and political commitments. The centennial in fall 2009 will be a citywide celebration, and we will invite all those associated with the library throughout its history, and everyone who rallied to save the Salinas Public Library, to a big 100-year birthday party.
Please join us and be part of library history in Salinas, California.
