Santa Ana city officials are gloating because they are bringing back a bookmobile, albeit under extremely limited availability, and because it looks like they will be negotiating a deal with the Santa Ana Unified School District to share the school libraries at perhaps one or two high schools.
But I realized the other day that the Santa Ana Main (and only) Library is closed on Sundays. That struck me as weird. Don’t most kids do their school projects on the weekend?
I asked a friend of mine, who is a teacher in Santa Ana, how many of the kids in his class have access to the Internet. He replied that perhaps half the students had Internet access. The rest of them still rely on the library for Internet access and traditional literary research.
Now I know that the Santa Ana city managers will cry that they have no money. To which I reply, then stop giving yourselves raises! And turn your library system over to the County of Orange so it can be run the way it ought to be run.
Barring that turn of events, the Library director could cut back the hours during the week from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday to 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. He could do the same on Friday, cutting back to 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The saved hours could be spent on Sunday, to open the Library from 12 noon to 5 p.m.
The Orange County libraries are open every day, for the most part. Their hours mirror the Santa Ana Library hours, but the O.C. libraries are open on Sunday.
Do residents of Santa Ana need the library less than their counterparts in cities served by the County of Orange, such as Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Tustin, Irvine, and Westminster? No! If anything our residents have less access to the Internet as compared to residents of those communities. And we have more English fluency problems than they do!
Why are Santa Ana city leaders purposely under-serving their constituents? Why has Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido allowed this to happen? When is anyone going to get a clue?
I hope that ultimately we will go with the County library system as that will help us to get a new library branch in south-central Santa Ana. I truly doubt that our city officials will ever make our libraries a priority. This will be Pulido’s legacy – 12 years of letting his people down.
In fact the only other legacy Pulido will leave with regard to the Santa Ana Library is his appointment of Minuteman Lupe Moreno to the Santa Ana Public Library Advisory Board. For shame!
Art. Through the efforts of Mission Viejo activists a few years ago we were able to widen our library hours of operation. Further, anyone living in Santa Ana, or any other city in OC, can apply for a library card to use our facility and materials.
Address, telephone numbers and hours of operation are as follows:
Mission Viejo Library
100 Civic Center
Mission Viejo, Ca 92691
(949) 830-7100 – Main number
Circulation – Ext. 4000
Reference – Ext. 4008
Children’s Room – Ext. 4010
Volunteer Program – Ext. 2244
Heritage Research Committee – Ext. 4013
Friend’s Bookstore – Ext. 4014
Community Room Reservations & Info – Ext. 4004
Passport Information – (949) 470-8420
Automated Renewal/Notification System (949) 855-8068
Hours
Monday – Thursday:
10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.