The Wiseburn Public Library at Risk of Closure

The Board of Trustees is very pleased that Supervisor Burke and the other County Board of Supervisors have found a way to keep the Wiseburn Branh Library open at least for the next serveral months. Wiseburn Board members worked proactively to promote maintenance of our community library branch. Please refer to the Board's Resolution and Dr. Brann's Letter to the Editor (Daily Breeze).

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BOARD'S RESOLUTION | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Keeping the Wiseburn branch library open, even with reduced operational days and hours, is essential to the students in our schools and the entire community, Don Brann, Superintendent of the Wiseburn School District, said today. Speaking on the Wiseburn School Board's behalf, Brann pointed out that reading is an essential part of the learning ladder of students. If the opportunity to obtain books in their neighborhood library is taken away, it will seriously jeopardize their educational process. "Closing the branch library, an important community center of learning in our District, is unacceptable to the Board," Brann stated. Supervisor Yvonne Burke publicly voiced concern about County Librarian Margaret Todd's targeting four libraries in Burke's district for closure. Burke says she will ask city officials in her district, including Hawthorne, to participate in a county assessment district that raises money for libraries. The Wiseburn Board fully supports Burke's plan. Los Angeles County, to balance its budget, needs to identify items which result in significant cost savings but leave a low impact on programs and services. The proposal to close the Wiseburn branch library does not meet this criteria, Brann explained. State dollars to fund education have been critically reduced and for the County to add to those woes by closing the Wiseburn branch library will be devastating to students and adults who use it, Brann concluded.

On behalf of the Wiseburn School District Board of Trustees, I am writing to urge you to find a way to keep the Wiseburn Library open for the people. As the leader of a public agency, I fully understand the difficulty in balancing the 2003-04 budget. The level of uncertainty is extreme and the gap is so wide in Sacramento. However, the cost savings in closing a library branch does not do much to solve the problem. But it does damage an important community center of learning. Outside of Los Angeles County's Wiseburn Library branch and the Wiseburn School District, the people here in western Hawthorne have little. The library is well used and appreciated by our residents. The Wiseburn School District has collaborated with Los Angeles County to keep the library open. The District donates land and a building (no

Tomorrow's leaders learn today in our library

charge) for this cause. The only reason to close down the Wiseburn Library branch is to renovate the building, which is overdue. Let's find a way to fix up this library and keep it open for the children and adults who use it. To balance its budget, Los Angeles County needs to identify items which result in significant cost savings but leave a low impact on programs and services. The proposal to close the Wiseburn Library does not meet this criteria. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Keeping the Wiseburn branch library open is a must for Supervisor Yvonne Burke. Burke, who represents west Hawthorne, voiced great concern when County Librarian Margaret Todd targeted four libraries in Burke's District for closure, including Wiseburn. Continuing reading improvement is a key element in the learning and teaching process of our students. The Wiseburn branch library, located in the heart of our school district, is a key component in the process. Many of our students depend on the numerous resources available to them at the library. Not only is the library a high priority of our students, teachers, and resident adults but also the hundreds of workers at nearby companies like Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and the Los Angeles Air Force Base, who use it regularly. Burke proposes to ask city officials to participate in a county-wide assessment district to raise money for libraries. This insures costs to operate the libraries would be widely shared. Reducing days and

Children at the Library learn about possums, our nation's only marsupial.

hours of operation, though not preferred, would be acceptable to closure. Our students, teachers, and school board join me in urging Burke to use her clout with her colleagues to keep the library open. We know she can do it.