WEST HILLS : 3 New Libraries Face Funding Woes

Construction is expected to begin soon on three new branch libraries in the San Fernando Valley, but doubt remains about how the city will find money to staff them or even to buy books to fill the shelves.

The new libraries, in Porter Ranch, West Hills and North Hills, will be built with funds from a $53.4-million bond issue passed by Los Angeles voters in 1989, combined with about $33 million in state and federal grants for library construction, said Leslie Nordby, principal librarian for Los Angeles public libraries. The same funds will be used to make nine libraries earthquake-safe and to construct three other branches in the city, she said.

The new libraries, planned before the local economic downturn, may struggle to operate once built. The City Council has already rejected a $450,000 budget request to buy books for the Platt library, scheduled to open in West Hills in 1994.

Public libraries narrowly escaped a $1.2-million budget cut proposed by Mayor Tom Bradley earlier this year that would have meant that libraries could remain open only five days a week instead of six. Most libraries had already cut their hours of operation from 55 to 46 per week, and the City Council rejected further cutbacks, said Fontayne Holmes, branch library assistant director. A final budget is still in the works.

In the meantime, existing funds for materials will be stretched thin. Buying books for the new libraries will probably mean shifting funds slated for other libraries, Holmes said.

The three libraries scheduled to open next year in the Valley are the Platt branch at 23650 Victory Blvd., the Porter Ranch branch at 11371 Tampa Ave., and the Mid-Valley Regional Branch at 16244 Nordhoff St.