By Bruce Barton

Cheryl Houts projects a cheery, helpful presence as the head of the Los Altos main library.

Houts, the former children’s librarian, became the chief last year when Catherine Fouts retired. The new children’s librarian is Alanna Jones.

Houts said she is ready to face the challenges brought on by factors such as the increased circulation of materials and maintaining a reasonable noise level at the library despite the high traffic level. Los Altos continues to rank first in the Santa Clara County library system in circulation per capita. Houts said the average user checks out 34 items per year. Electronic media is hugely popular, accounting for 33 percent of all checkouts. More than 1 million items circulate through the Los Altos library every year.

“I think (the high usage) reflects the educational level of the population,” said Houts, who was hired by Carol Tefft in 1997. Tefft, head librarian since the Los Altos branch first opened in 1965, retired in 1998. Houts is only the third head librarian in the branch’s history.

“We were very pleased,” said Jim Thurber, chairman of the Los Altos Library Commission, when county library officials selected Houts for the position. “She’s doing a great job.”

Thurber said Houts has embraced the commission’s idea of a survey assessing library needs. She will have a hand in organizing the library’s contribution to a 50th anniversary celebration of Los Altos’ incorporation, scheduled for Aug. 25. So far, the library is planning a treasure hunt, puppet shows and a bookmobile.

Another challenge Houts continues to face is educating visitors about the issue of child protection on the Internet versus the Constitutional right to open access. The county libraries compromised with parents protesting over Internet access by installing filters at terminals in the children’s section.

Houts is excited about upcoming improvements to the Los Altos library, such as replacing the electronic catalog interface, which will lead to better maintenance of the machines. The Friends of the Los Altos Library recently donated $10,000 for materials in the visual arts, music and theater.

The 11-year veteran of the county library system said she enjoys her Los Altos position because of the outstanding community support. The library is supported by two parcel taxes, a fund-raising effort that resulted in an influx of science and technology materials, and the highly active Friends of the Los Altos Library.

“Los Altos is an excellent community to work for because there are so many willing volunteers and we have such a helpful staff here,” Houts said.