Dear Editor,
When I moved to Santa Monica from the east coast 22 years ago, before all the boxes were even unpacked, I headed to the library to get my library card. As an avid reader, a library card has been for nearly all of the 80 years I’ve been on this planet, a crucial part of my life.
During the pandemic, access to books, as to so many other things, was severely restricted. But, while we are no longer stockpiling toilet paper, or waiting on long lines to be admitted to Trader Joe’s, the Santa Monica library has not returned to anything resembling normalcy.
As soon as I read about a book I know I’ll want to read, I have always reserved it at the library. But now, with the exception of a very few obvious bestsellers, everything at SMPL is perpetually “on order." It is a futile endeavor.
I am fortunate to live within walking distance of both the main library and the Montana branch. But, now, with great sorrow, I have started to reserve books from the LA library system, and driving to Brentwood when they are ready, putting another car on the road, struggling to park in their hilariously tiny and inadequate lot.
Why is the library, one of civilization’s greatest resources, not sufficiently funded? I can understand that hours may have had to be shortened, and that two branches, Ocean Park and Fairview, are now “zombie” locations, but to purchase only a tiny handful of newly published books, leaving the majority of the most important, significant works of contemporary fiction and non-fiction unavailable is unworthy of our allegedly forward looking town.
I would like to know the thinking behind this. Is part of the problem that the budget is severely impacted by the necessary presence of several security guards at all times, given that the main library is essentially serving as a de facto homeless shelter?
It should be noted that the personnel at the library are invariably pleasant and helpful. The librarians are not the problem.
I hope that those of us impacted by the loss of the library we used to enjoy will find some way to influence the decision makers.
Laurie Brenner, Wilmont
