Input needed on county libraries

“The love of libraries, like most loves, must be learned.” ? - Alberto Manguel

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Sonoma County’s got a lot of learning to do.

At least that’s the impression one gets about the 37 percent of county voters who voted no on Measure M last November, the one-eighth-cent sales tax that would’ve bolstered local libraries by $100 million over the next decade.

But, like those literary heroes littering the fiction shelves who remain resolute in the face of all adversity - think Ahab or TinTin - the Sonoma County Library soldiers on to improve even without enough electoral support to muster the two-thirds approval Measure M needed to pass.

This month, the Sonoma County Library launched a “strategic planning process” in which library officials are seeking public input about what folks would like to see in their libraries.

A meeting to get your suggestions is scheduled for 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 27 at the Petaluma Library.

Of course, any discussion of the library system’s future is colored by significant budget constraints. Due to funding shortfalls, library hours have been cut by 25 percent since 2011, and are not open at all on Mondays. Compared with other counties, Sonoma County has fallen far behind in how much we spend per capita per year for library services. Marin County spends $95. Napa County spends $54 per capita. Sonoma County, by contrast, spends just $33 per capita.

Library officials were hoping to add programs and increase hours with revenue from Measure M, but that’s now on hold. In January, library commissioners formed an ad-hoc committee to explore additional sources of revenue for the library including grants and private giving. A separate committee is set to begin exploring the timing of another ballot measure expected to come before voters in November of 2016.

In the meantime, your input is needed to make the best of the limited resources that exist.

As you mull your suggestions, consider this observation from a pretty well-read guy named Walter Cronkite: “Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.”