Voters can write in to increase funding; famed author draws attention to local endowment group

By Bruce Barton, Town Crier Staff Writer

Dmitry Nikitin browses the bookshelves at Los Altos Main Library. Voters this month will consider measures A and B, providing parcel tax revenue to fund local libraries.

This month, Los Altos libraries will experience two milestone events. One will be an appearance by acclaimed author Tobias Wolff April 15, during National Library Week, to celebrate this community’s avid support for local libraries. The event is sponsored by Los Altos Library Endowment, an organization of local leaders who have created a perpetual funding source unique among all the branches in the Santa Clara County system.

The second, more critical event is happening throughout the month as county voters cast write-in ballots for a parcel tax vital to restoring staffing and lost hours. Voters have until May 3 to decide the fate of Measures A and B, the first retaining the current parcel tax of $33.66 per year, the second increasing that amount by $12. Both need to pass by a two-thirds majority vote.

What the measures do

Opponents, led by the county Libertarian Party and the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, dismiss the measures as deceptive, noting 66 percent of the funds will go to salaries and benefits.

This is the second go-around for the parcel tax increase proposal. A similar measure was defeated last year despite carrying 61 percent of the overall vote. A 66.66 percent vote is needed to achieve a two-thirds majority.

Some observers see the county libraries as having a better chance with the write-in ballot, the first such county election after a recent court decision affirming such elections could be held. Campaign efforts, particularly in Cupertino and Morgan Hill, have picked up considerably over last year.

Campaign efforts

“The problem isn’t support (in Los Altos),” said library advocate Pat Frischmann. “It’s complacency. Because of the way this is being done, people may be unaware or complacent. We need all the help we can get.”

Cheryl Houts, head librarian of the Los Altos main library, is a Campbell resident. She is encouraged by the support she’s received in her hometown when she’s called residents by phone. “I’m hearing a lot of yeses,” she said.

Supporters said a recent phone campaign in Los Altos Hills showed 424 out of 428 people supporting both ballot measures.

Los Altos branches have already been directly impacted by the loss of Monday hours, beginning last October. The $12 increase under Measure B would likely restore those hours, supporters said.

“Monday’s closure is our biggest impact,” Houts said. Visitors also are experiencing longer waits due to fewer staffers.

“One of the crowning glories of the Los Altos libraries is the availability of current fiction,” Frischmann said. But Houts said further cuts would affect overall purchases, including the fiction selections.

Endowment adds support

“We want to preserve the long-term, natural stability of the library,” said LALE member Bob Simon last week.

Graham Wallace, a former Los Altos library commissioner and now a member of the LALE board, sees funding “providing significant funds for significant projects.”

Members envision doing that by providing funds for special requests that come up per Houts and other library personnel. These could include building projects, such as Houts’ wish for a “quiet room” at the library. With the regular library atmosphere no longer quiet due to bustling activity and rampant use, Houts talked last week of a space where people could simply study without cell phones going off or the clacking of computer keyboards. However, the idea remains conceptual at this point.

LALE started after completion of a widely successful “Vision 21″ campaign in 1996 to increase science and technology materials at the local libraries. Organizers started the endowment with money raised above and beyond the $300,000 campaign goal.

Then a quiet, longtime library supporter, Virginia Whipple, bestowed $2.8 million on local libraries upon her death in March 2004. In a compromise agreement with the Joint Powers Authority, presiding over county library branches, LALE received $1.6 million to boost the endowment significantly. Joint Powers Authority officials agreed to $1.2 million. But the total benefits the Los Altos main and Woodland branches exclusively.

With the endowment’s current $2 million base, LALE supporters envision a stable, continual disbursement of funds of up to 5 percent of the principal, or $100,000, annually. However, disbursements would not be available for another year.

‘Speaking Volumes’

Many in literary circles see Wolff as pioneering a unique kind of memoir writing with “This Boy’s Life” and “In Pharaoh’s Army.” Two of his best-known novels are “The Barracks Thief” and “Old School.” His work appears regularly in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and Harper’s magazines.

Main Street Cafe & Books, 134 Main St., in Los Altos, has copies of Wolff’s books, which he will sign for interested readers at the “Speaking Volumes” event.