If most local residents had their way, Western Malibu would already have its own library branch.
This, and other concerns, were made clear at the library assessment town hall meeting held at Malibu City Hall on Wednesday, May 9. More than a dozen residents were in attendance.
Library consultant Linda Demmers led the meeting.
The Malibu Library—which turns 50 in two years—went through a detailed needs assessment back in 2005, when former Malibu mayors Pamela Conley Ulich and Sharon Barovsky spearheaded fundraising for the Malibu Library Improvement project. The $6 million renovation was presented to the public on Earth Day in 2012.
Now, with a pool of $8.6 million to spend, the LA County Library suggested Malibu “have a community dialogue about how best to spend those dollars in support of library services to the residents of Malibu,” according to Demmers.
“Interestingly, what was found in 2005 is not dissimilar to where we are today,” she said, giving examples of residents requesting book collection improvement, more technology programs and a positive library experience. While technology programs are less requested these days, residents have pushed for a better audiobook/ebook selection.
The community dialogue has included stakeholder interviews, focus groups and most importantly, a community survey.
The online library needs assessment survey, open from Feb. 23 through April 20, had 606 respondents—82 percent of whom were Malibu residents.
Last time around, the assessment received 50 or so comments from residents. This time, respondents left “55 single-spaced pages of comments”—1,250 comments total—for library officials to go through.
When the issue of people taking the survey multiple times (and skewing the results) came up, Demmers responded, “It’s pretty rare that people try to game a survey about the library.”
To start, residents rarely use the library. Forty-one percent of respondents visit the site “a few times [out] of the year.” As for why, top reasons included a preference to buy books, not enough book variety, hours, location and other. A significant amount of people cited homeless people, safety and hygiene as deterrents.
In fact, throughout the survey, more than 275 comments mentioned the homelessness situation in and around the library as a problem. Some residents suggested that, with Santa Monica College’s Malibu satellite campus construction set to begin in August, it would soon cease to be an issue. The City of Malibu has designated the old Malibu Courthouse—located next to the Malibu Library—as the new location for homeless dinners; whether that will ease or exacerbate the situation is unclear.
Another sticking point was the lack of a branch on the west end of Malibu, a place that one resident called “the center of population” for the 21-mile-long city.
Many recalled the Bookmobile, a mobile library that made stops all over Malibu, from Zuma to Topanga, for decades. (The LA County Public Library system still deploys bookmobiles to cities, including Whittier and Rowland Heights.)
“I was just very fortunate as a kid to have a library next to my elementary school and … it was a daily stop for me and that was really wonderful,” Malibu Realtor Paul Grisanti said. “My mother didn’t drive. While we all intensely mobile here, when you’ve got kids and you’ve got to take them 10 miles to the library, there are times when it just doesn’t happen.”
On the surface level, survey respondents pointed out that the library entrance itself was difficult to spot. (It’s located next to the parking lot in front of the old courthouse; the entrance is not visible when driving by.) If the front door is moved, Demmers said layout-wise, “everything will change.”
Community dialogue will continue with high school and preschool focus groups, individual interviews, and facility analysis.
Anyone interested in voicing their thoughts is encouraged to come by during drop-in sessions at Malibu Library on May 23 from 12:30-4 p.m. and 5-6 p.m.